🎬HIGHLIGHTS

1. Two Bulls AND Blackhawks wins

2. 9-round shootout in a Tankathon matchup

3. Coby White’s maturation

💎THE FRANCHISES

In-Season

🏒Chicago Blackhawks

TROPHY TRACKER 1-❌-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-🏆

W - Blackhawks 2, Sharks 1 (SO)

A Tankathon win (or loss) for the Hawks in a slugfest with the worst team in the league. Nothing like a 9-round shootout to add to the fun!!

• Philipp Kurashev was strong in this game (4 shots) - he almost scored a game-winner near the end of regulation, and he drew a penalty early in the overtime period

• Boris Katchouk had the shootout winner after THREE Hawks hit the post and/or had the puck graze the goal line

• Connor Murphy was still out with an injury, and Nikita Zaitsev left the game with an injury

L - Sabres 3, Hawks 0

This tough shutout loss was delayed a day due to the snow and effective travel bans in the Buffalo area. Not sure the Hawks offense realized they were allowed in the stadium.

• The Sabres pulled away after a 5-minute major for boarding was called on Kurashev early in the 3rd period

• Jason Dickinson went 11-4 at the faceoff circle

• Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had his second straight shutout

W - Blackhawks 4, Islanders 3 (OT)

Seth Jones got the monkey off his back and scored his first goal of the year in OT to win the game! The Hawks’ effort also forced the Islanders to fire their coach Lane Lambert the following day.

• Jason Dickinson with 1 goal, 2 assists

• Joey Anderson and Boris Katchouk with 1 goal, 1 assist

Week Record: 2-1

Season Record: 14-30-2

Star of the Week: Boris Katchouk

Katchouk came through with the shootout winner vs. the Sharks and has been a steady contributor lately. He now has 3 goals and 2 assists in January as a bottom-six forward.

Play of the Week: Boris Katchouk and Petr Mrazek close out the shootout victory!

Gotta love Mrazek’s celly after the winning save 😎

News & Notes:

1. Jason Dickinson signed a 2 year extension at $4.25M AAV!! Two straight veteran extensions are now complete as next year’s team continues to take shape. Dickinson has become an impressive goal scorer this season and has taken a huge step as a leader. Well deserved deal.

2. Zaitsev was placed on IR

3. Former Blackhawk Corey Perry signed with the Edmonton Oilers

4. IceHogs GM Mark Bernard shared a story from the 2020 draft - they were packing up at their draft table, since they did not own a 7th round pick, when they traded back in to take D Louis Crevier, who has now made it to the NHL

5. You need to check out Scott Powers’ article on the Blackhawks potential roster next season. He takes an extensive look at their free agents and who may re-sign with the team. Most of the roster could be filled in-house, but he suggests the Hawks would still have over $30M of cap space to use in the offseason.

🏀Chicago Bulls

TROPHY TRACKER ❌-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-🏆

L - Cavaliers 109, Bulls 91

The Bulls came out flat in Cleveland and couldn’t quite pull off a comeback as the Cavs poured it on from deep.

• Bulls went on a 28-6 run in the 3rd and 4th quarters to take their first lead of the game

• Cavs shot 20-57 from 3 - their franchise record in attempts

• Ayo left the game with a shoulder injury

• DeMar DeRozan was held to 6 points 🤷‍♂️

W - Bulls 119, Raptors 110

Back into the Win column despite Zach Lavine rolling his ankle in the 3rd quarter and the team shooting 6-24 from 3.

• DeMar and Vooch with 24 points, Coby 23 points

• Vooch and the Bulls dominated in the paint and outscored the Raptors 74-50 down low

W - Bulls 125, Grizzlies 96

A blowout win! The Bulls controlled this one against a Ja-less Grizzlies team, even though Zach missed the game with his injured ankle.

• Seven Bulls scored in double figures

• Ayo had 20p/6r/4a and a +28 🔥

• D-Rose and Joakim Noah were in the house! So much love between those two. It’s fun for Chicago to see them back together and talking about how much they mean to each other.

• DeMar said the Bulls “played with a lot of joy tonight” 😀

Week Record: 2-1

Season Record: 21-23

Star of the Week: Coby White

Coby has been Mr. Consistent even when his three-point shot wavers. He averaged 20p/6r/4a this week despite only hitting one three in each game. His handles have improved to another level this season, and he’s been able to contribute to winning basketball in so many different ways each night.

Play of the Week: Coby White pass

News & Notes:

1. Zach is expected to miss 1 to 2 weeks

2. The Bulls are hovering around the #9 seed, which would put them into the play-in tournament

Off-Season

🏈Chicago Bears

TROPHY TRACKER 1-2-3-❌-5-6-7-8-9-🏆

News & Notes:

1. NINE known candidates have interviewed for the Offensive Coordinator position

   Marcus Brady // Thomas Brown // Liam Coen // Kliff Kingsbury // Klint Kubiak // Greg Olson // Zac Robinson // Greg Roman // Shane Waldron

2. Tremaine Edmunds won the Ballhawk award for this season and got to pose it up next to Flus

1. ST Coach Richard Hightower will coach the East Team at the Shrine Bowl, LB Coach Dave Borgonzi will act as the Defensive Coordinator

2. Former Bear Chris Harris will interview for the Defensive Coordinator position (first known candidate)

3. Packers lose!!! 🥳🥳🥳

⚾Chicago Cubs

TROPHY TRACKER 1-2-3-4-5-❌-7-8-9-🏆

News & Notes:

1. Signed the #4 rated international prospect - SS Fernando Cruz from the Dominican Republic

2. Multiple reports stated that MLB executives believe the Cubs will have the “most impactful” remainder of the offseason

📣SAY WHAT?

😎GOOD ONE ALERT

Coby White (yes, we’ll count this as Back-to-Back)

I really enjoyed this 1-on-1 Darnell Mayberry had with Coby White about Coby’s improvements on the court and as a person.

Coby is clearly a humble guy who always gives credit to his teammates and seeks wisdom from DeMar and others in his life.

We don’t see the younger guys get much playing time outside of Coby and P-Will, but he mentions the younger players having their own “little clan”. They motivate each other and push each other to be better.

I appreciate getting glimpses into who these athletes are as people away from the court and how their personal life impacts their productivity on the court. Coby’s numbers on a per game basis have essentially doubled this year, and it sounds like he’s maturing outside of the game as well 📈

🔥MILD TAKE❄

Keeping Matt Eberflus may be the right choice.

The fan base (or at least the vocal Twitter users) sounded off when the Bears officially decided to move forward with Flus for the 2024 season.

I can see why. As recent as November 19th, after blowing a 12 point lead in the last 4 minutes of the game in Detroit, I was in that camp.

The resume, in a year where I expected the Bears to take a huge leap, included 2 chokes and multiple blowouts where the team looked lifeless and unprepared. They were leaving Detroit at 3-8 with very little going their way.

Not to mention our current knowledge that Bill Belichick, Mike Vrabel, Jim Harbaugh, and other accomplished coaches are looking for jobs.

Fast forward to the end of the season. I’m ok with seeing what the next step is. They blew another lead in Cleveland, but they had won 4 of 5 heading into Green Bay. The defense was #1 in the league in rushing defense and tied for #1 with 22 interceptions. They dominated play in the last 6 games of the year.

And it is absolutely worth something that the players play hard. They verbalize their support for Flus. They repeat his messages back to the media during press conferences. This team has stuck together.

The players have recently talked about having a “college locker room” where everyone is really tight, and they haven’t been a part of something like this since college.

This isn’t MLB where you can “upgrade” the manager and immediately improve as a whole. The NFL is built on programs, on culture, on schemes. Switching out the coach now, who was brought in by Ryan Poles and built this roster with Ryan Poles, would be a restart to the rebuild.

As long as the current rebuild actually takes the next step, sticking with Flus and building on this season will be the right move.