Eddie Olczyk, making Illinois’ first sportsbook wager at BetRivers Sportsbook in March 2020, will be part of NBC’s coverage of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times When NBC carried the NHL, lead analyst Eddie Olczyk, a passionate horseplayer, longed to be part of the network’s Kentucky Derby coverage. “I tried to sell my boss, [executive producer and president of production] Sam Flood, on that for five years,” said Olczyk, now the lead analyst for TNT. “ ‘Hey, look, I don’t want to take anybody’s job, but if there’s a spot that opens up on the Derby coverage, I’d love t ..read more

Blackhawks center Connor Bedard will learn in June whether he’s edged out his competition for the honor. Bruce Bennett/Getty Images Blackhawks star Connor Bedard will have to wait a couple of more months to find out whether he’ll receive the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year. On Tuesday, however, Bedard learned he’s officially one of three Calder finalists, as voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. It’s a thoroughly unsurprising trio of finalists: Bedard, Wild defenseman Brock Faber and Devils defenseman Luke Hughes. The only question entering Tue ..read more

Two years into Kyle Davidson’s rebuild, Blackhawks players aren’t feeling quite as patient about it as he is. Michael Reaves/Getty Images After a Blackhawks practice in April 2022, shortly after Kyle Davidson took over as general manager and announced a full-scale rebuild, Alex DeBrincat made a comment that revealed just how little he understood that concept. "If we come out hot or doing well," DeBrincat said, looking ahead to the 2022-23 season, "there’s no point to rebuild after that, right?" Of course, DeBrincat was long gone by the time 2022-23 began, having been shipped off as part ..read more

Alex Vlasic signed a six-year contract with the Blackhawks. Michael Reaves/Getty Images A Wilmette kid is staying in Chicago for six more years. The Blackhawks signed young defenseman Alex Vlasic, the local product coming off a splendid first full NHL season, to a six-year contract Thursday with a $4.6 million salary-cap hit. “Alex made enormous strides this year and proved he is a legitimate top-four defenseman in the NHL,” Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson said in a statement. “In his first full season in the NHL, Alex established himself as an important piece of our young core, and ..read more

Connor Bedard will play in the World Championships for Canada. Michael Reaves/Getty Images After weeks of dodging the question, Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard finally confirmed the news Saturday: His 2023-24 season isn’t quite done yet. Bedard will play for Canada in the world championships next month in Czechia, joining Hawks teammates Seth Jones (U.S.), Alex Vlasic (U.S.), Petr Mrazek (Czechia) and Philipp Kurashev (Switzerland). “Me and ‘Kurshy’ were talking, and our main goal is to score on Mrazek,” Bedard quipped. He hadn't 100% committed because he wanted to first assess how his ..read more

Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said he expects the team to start improving next season. George Walker IV/AP Photos Kyle Davidson has preached patience throughout his tenure as Blackhawks general manager, and he spent about 10 minutes reemphasizing that Saturday after the Hawks' end-of-season interviews. For the first time, however, Davidson stated he's ready to help the Hawks begin slowly ascending. "It's time to take a step forward," Davidson said. "[In 2022-23], we finished third-last. This year, we finished second-last. That can’t happen again. We need to start moving up and ..read more

The Blackhawks have finished their 2023-24 season. Michael Reaves/Getty Images A Blackhawks season that began with Connor Bedard and Kevin Korchinski’s rookie laps Oct. 10 in Pittsburgh ended Thursday with a chaotic overtime loss in Los Angeles. In between, the Hawks mustered only 23 wins in 82 games, falling short of expectations but not in particularly worrying fashion. The team’s win-loss record was always destined to be some form of ugly this season, and whatever form that turned out to be was never going to mean much. Relatively few players on this current roster are penciled into l ..read more

Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks lost 5-4 in overtime against the Kings on Thursday. Harry How/Getty Images LOS ANGELES — It would be an easy storyline to purport, that the small yet poorly timed errors the Blackhawks committed in their season finale Thursday exemplified their season-long struggles. But that would be far too generous to their season overall. They weren't inches away from success; they were miles away. On Thursday, a 5-4 overtime loss to the Kings tacked one more defeat — albeit a more-entertaining-than-usual defeat — onto their final record of 23-53-6. Those 53 ..read more

Connor Bedard isn’t completely pleased with his rookie season. Michael Reaves/Getty Images LOS ANGELES — Connor Bedard's standards are high. So when he looks back on his first Blackhawks season, he's not entirely pleased with how it went, even though he led all rookies in scoring by a long shot and will likely take home the Calder Trophy. "Personally, I think I was OK a lot, but maybe not as good as I hoped," Bedard said Thursday. "But that's part of it. [I'm] just learning. I feel like I improved throughout the year, which is big. But for this summer, I've got a lot of areas to imp ..read more

Taylor Hall missed all but 10 games of the Blackhawks’ season. Michael Reaves/Getty Images LOS ANGELES — As the Blackhawks trickled onto the ice for their final morning skate of the season Thursday at Crypto.com Arena, Taylor Hall appeared seemingly out of thin air. The veteran forward, sidelined since November while recovering from ACL surgery in his right knee, reached the stage of his recovery where he could safely participate in light, non-contact drills with the team just in time. "For me to come on this road trip at the end of the year [and] get some sun, it’s a little reward ..read more