The pick itself is more of a mystery.

“Third overall is a pretty damn good place to acquire more talent, and we’ll add it to a really strong prospect pool,” Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson said after the draft lottery.

Defenseman Matthew Schaefer of the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters ranks No. 1 on NHL Central Scouting’s list of North American skaters, and he’s the consensus projected top pick. But three or four other prospects also are legitimate contenders.

The Hawks had a 13.5% chance of winning the No. 1 pick after finishing with the league’s second-worst record (25-46-11), and they couldn’t drop lower than fourth because of lottery rules.

The last-place San Jose Sharks (20-50-12) had the best odds of winning the top pick at 25.5%, but the lottery balls lined up for the New York Islanders, who won the first of two draws to earn the No. 1 pick.

The Islanders had just the 10th-best odds at 3.5% to win the first draw. As lottery balls popped up one by one during a live broadcast — 7, 11, 12 — the Hawks needed the fourth and final ball to be marked 9 or 14. Instead, the 13 ball rose up the chute for the Islanders.

The second draw also defied the odds, as the Utah Hockey Club — which entered the evening with the third-worst chances among the 16 lottery teams — won with a combination of 1-5-12-3. The Hawks needed 1-5-10-12 to secure the No. 2 pick.

Utah received the No. 4 pick after moving up the maximum 10 spots. The Sharks and Hawks then were slotted into the second and third picks, respectively.

“My philosophy is we do like to go best player available, but sometimes the discussions are so close where you have to break that somehow.”—Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson on targeting needs in the NHL draft

— Phil Thompson (@philthompsontrib.bsky.social) 2025-05-06T01:06:51.378Z

“I thought it was kind of exciting,” Davidson said. “The last couple years haven’t been necessarily like chalk, but teams close to the top of the odds have moved up or stayed the same, so it was kind of exciting from that standpoint.

“Third overall, we’re going to get a great player. I’m excited to head into meetings next week with our amateur group and start the process of nailing down where we want to line up the board and what it looks like.”

The lottery, broadcast from NHL Network’s studio in Secaucus, N.J., set the order for the first 16 picks. The draft takes place June 27 and 28 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

If there was a year when dropping out of the top two wouldn’t be a downer for the second-worst team, it might be this year. There’s no generational type such as Connor Bedard or Macklin Celebrini on a tier by himself.

Central Scouting director Dan Marr said this year’s draft is more “traditional” than recent years, with the top-ranked prospect, Schaefer, having only a slight edge on other contenders.

“There’s three or four players in the mix that you’ll be very happy to get any one of them,” Marr said. “Schaefer’s the real deal. Schaefer is the best defenseman in the draft class by a country mile. (He) plays a style that’s going to translate well to the NHL.”

In addition to Schaefer, Marr name-checked center Michael Misa of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit and Boston College center James Hagens as potential top picks, and he called winger Porter Martone of the OHL’s Brampton Steelheads a top-four pick.

“Hagens and Misa, whoever’s picking No. 1, if they take (either of) them No. 1, I don’t think anybody’s going to bat an eye,” Marr said before the lottery.

Anton Frondell, a forward for Djurgården in Sweden’s second division, overtook teammate Victor Eklund for the top spot in the final international rankings, so he’s a strong contender as well.

Davidson said it’s too early to comment on who he believes are the top contenders.

Save for the CHL’s Memorial Cup, the scouting calendar is pretty much complete.

Davidson said regional scouts will loosely form their rankings and tiers, and “crossover scouts” will chime in on those lists.

“The thing about the draft is there’s always a lot of public discourse and then I feel like there’s always those people who suggest their surprise picks,” Davidson said. “That’s just people seeing the board differently. That’s what makes the draft exciting.

“I think ours versus any other team’s (grouping) is going to be different and is going to be different from the public. It’s exciting to get behind the curtain and really hammer away at what those tiers are, or (what) the rankings are for the Blackhawks and what our staff believes and how we see things lining up.

“Excited to do that, but we’re not quite at that point yet.”

However, Davidson conceded that the Hawks’ draft room might take a more targeted approach to address specific roster needs.

“My philosophy is we do like to go best player available, but sometimes the discussions are so close where you have to break that somehow.

“Is it position? Is it the style of play? Is it what we’ve got already (on the roster) versus what one of these players provide? There’s a number of different things because sometimes you can’t go position because they play the same position. There’s different things that will eventually have to break that tie.”

With every other team getting ready to thoroughly dissect the same top prospects — if they haven’t already — Marr discussed several of the top prospects with the Tribune earlier this year.

1. Matthew Schaefer, defenseman

He broke his collarbone while playing for Canada in the World Junior Championship in late December but still posted seven goals and 15 assists — 1.29 points per game — in 17 games for Erie.

“He’s 17 years old, so he’s got a lot to learn about how to play the game and how to have success at the next level,” Marr said. “But he has all the tools and the attributes to where he’s a very appealing prospect.”

Though Schaefer has been compared to the Colorado Avalanche’s Cale Makar, “for us, he’s more along the lines of Zach Werenski,” Marr said. “They’re both puck carriers, they’re both guys that can dominate the play when they have the puck on their stick, impact the play. Smart, skilled, a pretty complete package.

“Another (comp) is Noah Dobson. … These are guys, they go right into the NHL, they play big minutes, big situations, and they contribute.”

2. Michael Misa, forward

Misa’s 134 points (62 goals) last season tied John Tavares and trailed only Hawks great Patrick Kane (145) in OHL history. He was granted “exceptional player” status to enter the OHL early in 2022 and served as the Spirit’s captain last season. He also helped them win the 2023-24 Memorial Cup.

“When we look at Misa, we’re saying the career that he’s going to have, the type of player that he is, the character, the whole thing, he’s in the category with Steven Stamkos and Sebastian Aho,” Marr said. “Misa is a little bit more cerebral (than Hagens), but the quickness that he executes the play, it’s very impressive. He can see the ice and execute the play.

“He’s doing it at an NHL level now. But he’s not playing with NHL players, so you’re not always seeing that finished product out of it.”

3. James Hagens, forward

Hagens has a nice resume already, winning gold with the U.S. (along with Hawks prospect Oliver Moore) at this year’s World Juniors. His 187 career points rank fifth in U.S. National Team Development Program history.

“He plays a pro game — right now,” Marr said. “But he’s going to be coming into the league like a Logan Cooley or Clayton Keller. That’s not the trajectory that he’s on. He’s just that gifted offensive player.

“He sees the ice where he automatically is in the right place at the right time. He might be the best player of being in the right place at the right time. But by the time the puck is on stick, he already knows what he’s going to do — and it’s not on his stick long.

“But if he’s got the chance, he knows how to get open, get to the net, and he’s got a finishing touch.”

4. Porter Martone, forward

He has good size for a winger at 6-foot-2¾ and 208 pounds. Martone recorded 37 goals and 61 assists in 57 games last season for Brampton.

“He views himself as a Matthew Tkachuk,” Marr said, “but we think he’s a little bit more similar to Brady (Tkachuk) and Mark Stone, just because he’s the best player taking the puck to the net and scoring this year. He’s just that power forward.

“If (a team needs) that Tkachuck-type guy, they’re going to lean toward Martone if they’ve already got some more skilled, high-IQ-type players in their lineup. … But I’m not going to short-change Porter Martone on his skills or his (hockey) sense. He’s a very motivated guy. He just doesn’t have the speed and quickness that these other two (Hagens and Misa) have right now.”

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league has not announced its plans for the weekend before the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics.

Commissioner Gary Bettman has said on multiple occasions recently that the league has been rethinking what to do about the event after the success of the 4 Nations Face-Off international tournament earlier this year. The thought was always to use New York as a jumping off point for Milan, with players leaving from there to participate in the Olympics for the first time since 2014.

“We know we’ve set the bar high, which should be a good thing, not a problem,” Bettman said last week at a meeting of Associated Press Sports Editors in New York. “We’re going to make sure we do something. … We’ll have an event at UBS before we go to the Olympics. But then we’ll do something that’s more focused on a major hockey event for the following year.”

At his news conference wrapping up the general managers’ annual spring meeting last month, Bettman said: “We’re reevaluating how we want to do things because I think we’ve raised the bar about as high as you can for an all-star game in any sport. And so we want to make sure whatever we do is up to the standards that we’ve created.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday she wrote a letter to Bettman expressing her disappointment about the decision to hold a Winter Olympics kickoff event in place of All-Star Weekend, adding it was made without consulting with the state and requesting the league “bring a hockey event with equal or greater economic activity and cultural value to the region in 2027.”

That could quite easily be an All-Star Weekend or something of the sort at UBS Arena, since nothing else has been confirmed as of now. The 4 Nations tournament featuring teams representing the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland drawing sellout crowds and stellar ratings has the NHL considering different options for midseason festivities and even made the NBA contemplate doing something involving international play.

AP Assistant Sports Editor Jake Seiner in New York contributed to this report

Like every other NHL team, the Chicago Blackhawks will add draft picks and sign free agents this summer. But for current players such as Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar and Alex Vlasic, their games won’t advance at puck drop of the 2025-26 season opener.

The work has to start in the summer.

“We’ve got players, young players, who we know can play in the NHL and deserve the opportunity to find themselves in the NHL,” general manager Kyle Davidson said last month. “Now they have to have a good summer, come into camp and earn that, of course. There’s going to be competition throughout that young group to determine who is part of that roster into the season.”

Added veteran forward Jason Dickinson: “This is quite frankly a team with open spots everywhere. Not one of us has a solid spot. So you have to come in and take your job and make it happen because this team is looking for guys to do that.”

Culture is created not only in locker rooms during the season, but also in gyms and ice rinks during the summer.

“It’s on them at this point because they are the guys that are going to take this team forward,” Dickinson said. “They’ve got to take it. And the confidence that they come in with gives me the hope and the inspiration that that is what they want to do and what they’re going to do.”

After the Hawks finished with the second-worst record in the NHL (25-46-11) for the second year in a row, several players shared some of their offseason plans.

Connor Bedard, forward

Next season: It’s the Hawks’ job to keep supplementing Bedard with talent — either prospects or free-agent acquisitions. It will be Bedard’s job to maximize that support by continuing to round out his game as a center: faceoffs, defense, etc.

This summer: “He’s 19, he’s got room and areas to grow in,” Davidson said. “I believe he truly understands that. He’s excited to attack that.”

Bedard plans to do just that.

“It’s just working as smart as I can and just learning your body, learning how you’re going to get the most out of yourself,” Bedard said, elaborating on plans he revealed to the Tribune. “That’s the big thing for this summer. Probably the biggest thing is speed, acceleration.”

Connor Bedard will chase more speed this offseason to become a ‘more dangerous player’ for Chicago Blackhawks

Playing with Nazar and Ilya Mikheyev conveyed to Bedard that he needed more than just “average speed.”

“I’m not ever going to be (Nathan) MacKinnon or (Connor) McDavid or anyone like that,” he said, “(but) if I can gain another step, (it) puts guys on their heels a little more, and the way I think the game, that could be a huge plus for me and help me create more.”

Frank Nazar, forward

Next season: Nazar put up 12 goals and 14 assists in 53 games and finished on a heater: 1.1 points per game in April.

“I wish we could’ve played more games,” he said. “Wish I was there for the full 82.”

That won’t be a problem next season. He seems like a lock for a top-six role.

This summer: His breakaway abilities and strengths as a penalty killer were remarkable, but there’s room to improve on faceoffs and preparing for the rigors of an 82-game NHL schedule — something he never has done.

“I want to get stronger and faster,” he said. “I don’t think you should ever try to lose that but still working on it. All-around game, just trying to focus on puck touches and some small things and get better at those things.”

Teuvo Teräväinen, forward

Next season: Nazar finished the last 10 games with Teräväinen as his linemate, and the Hawks might want to explore that in the future too.

Nazar had some of his most promising lines with Teräväinen, including combinations with Colton Dach (52% expected goals-for), Mikheyev (51%) and Tyler Bertuzzi (49.9%).

“I feel like we found some chemistry out there,” Teräväinen said. “It was fun to play with him. … We started finding each other more.

“He’s got some really good speed, so (I) try to find him with the speed. He was trying to get himself open better too. Like when I get the puck, I feel like he was reading better too.”

This summer: Training will be business as usual — only longer. Teräväinen also has to prepare for the Milano Cortina Games in February.

“It’s going to be a big year for me next year, too, like (an) Olympic year,” said Teräväinen, who at the time of his interview also was considering joining Finland’s World Championship roster. “It’s always been one of my biggest dreams. So that’s going to be a big part of next season too.”

Jason Dickinson, forward

Next season: In reality, Dickinson likely will slip further in the pecking order from 2023-24, when he co-led the team in goals (22) with Bedard.

But that’s likely just fine for the defensive specialist. Still, he won’t want a repeat of this season, marred by a left ankle and wrist injuries and a frustrating lack of production.

“Yeah, it’s pretty brutal,” he said. “It sucked. I tried to play through a lot of things, and this was just something that I couldn’t play through … for obvious reasons. It really sucks. I hate that my season ended early and ended the way it did.”

This summer: Dickinson wore a cast to exit interviews, so healing is at the top of the agenda.

“I’ve got a checkup in a few weeks to make sure everything is on pace still,” said Dickinson, who hopes to have the cast off by next week.

Joe Veleno, forward

Next season: Veleno wants to develop his offensive game and finish more chances. The trade acquisition had seven points (three goals, four assists) in 18 games with the Hawks after totaling only 10 points (five goals, five assists) in 56 games with the Detroit Red Wings.

Still, Veleno knows his primary focus as a fourth-liner will be protecting leads, and he wants to dial into that.

“Just keep working on my skills,” he told the Tribune. “Working on my shot, working on my hands, picking pucks off the wall, working down low, cutting back and protecting pucks.”

This summer: Veleno plans to watch clips with his trainers, “seeing what I can do better.”

“Trying to implement that on the ice in the offseason with a couple other guys and doing some game-scenario situations,” he said. “It’s just about getting touches on the ice. The more touches you get, the more you practice (them), the more confident you’ll feel doing that skill.”

Landon Slaggert, forward

Next season: Slaggert produced two goals and four assists in 33 games and was fairly solid defensively, but he wants to improve on his meager 5.9% shooting percentage.

“He’s had some opportunities to shoot and had them blocked or whatnot,” interim coach Anders Sörensen said. “But it’s an area for him to work on.

“He does bring a lot of other positives to the group with his work ethic and compete. Add another layer to your development in terms of shooting and get a little more offense out of that, for sure.”

This summer: Slaggert’s girlfriend has encouraged him to add yoga to his offseason routine, something they can do together.

“She’s got me into it really nice,” he told the Tribune. “Get off the ice, get out of the weight room, helps me work on my mobility.”

Slaggert has a list of hockey skills he wants to work on, too, “but (it starts with) my touch, kind of first-touch plays,” he said. “Being able to settle down more pucks, I’ll be able to create more plays out there.

“Things happen so fast at this level. Being able to get a clean puck or create a clean puck out of a bad one, just be able to make more of those 5-foot plays, those little passes, I think will go a long way for my game and just lead to more success on the offensive side.”

Kevin Korchinski, defenseman

Next season: Korchinski knows he brings offensive skill to his position, but he has a bigger priority: size.

He has talked about gaining weight ever since the Hawks drafted him with the No. 7 pick in 2022, but every camp he weighs in about 185 to 187 pounds.

If he hopes to stay up in the NHL, he recognizes, “I’ve got to have a big summer and know what I’ve got to kind of work on.”

“I’ve got to get stronger compared to last year, take a bit more time off the ice, just so I can get bigger and stronger,” he told the Tribune. “Obviously I think I have the skill. I won’t lose skill. I need to get a lot stronger so I can play better and be more physical and maybe even quicker, faster. So just getting in the gym and really grinding that out is my goal.”

This summer: While he’s working on his body, he’ll also look to adjust his equipment, specifically his hockey stick.

“I actually switched my curve this year and I added a bit more curve and a bit bigger blade, just because the ice in most rinks, it gets really crappy after 10 minutes in the third period,” Korchinski said.

He switched from a Bauer Hyperlite with a P88 curve to a P88 alternate “with a little toe, and then I added a quarter of an inch to the top,” he said. “It makes it a bit bigger, so heavier blades settle the puck down. It’s just easier to catch passes.”

Korchinski said it made a difference.

“I noticed how, like, pucks bobbling, it’d be easier with a bigger blade just to settle it down so it doesn’t bounce over your stick,” he said, “just because little plays I got makes it more comfortable. Getting a bad pass, I can corral it and make a play rather than having to worry about settling it down.”

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Korchinski said the idea came from Rockford IceHogs assistant coach Josh MacNevin

“He was really on me the whole year for trying it,” Korchinski said. “And I was kind of stubborn. … I tried it out and I really liked it.”

Korchinski plans to tinker with the blade curve some more but under the guidance of trainers such as Blaine Whyte, founder of Pro Sport Rehab and Fitness in Korchinski’s native Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

“I’ve got to ask the trainers if I can switch,” he said. “They were fortunate enough to let me try a new sample stick.”

Alex Vlasic, defenseman

Next season: Due to attrition, Vlasic has become one of the senior members of his position group — seemingly overnight.

“It was kind of crazy at a whole team level just to see the difference in age that we started with to finish with,” he said. “I feel like the team changed quite a bit.”

The weight of the Hawks defense will fall on his shoulders.

“It’s just getting used to the minutes, the games and the sheer force that you’re putting on your body every single night,” he told the Tribune.

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This summer: He plans to review areas of improvement with Hawks skills coach Brian Keane. He’ll also join Nazar on the U.S. team for the upcoming IIHF World Championship in Sweden and Denmark.

“Last year I had a lot of fun and learned a lot,” he said. “There’s a bunch of good players that go every year and it’s fun to learn from them and pick their brain, so hopefully we can get the job done.”

Sam Rinzel, defenseman

Next season: After putting up five assists in his first nine NHL games, Rinzel already is a contender to lead the defensive group across from Vlasic. He averaged 23.2 minutes per game, second to now-former Hawk Seth Jones.

“He’s a great player,” Vlasic said. “Can’t say enough good things about him, defensively and offensively. … I felt like we started to understand each other’s game quite a bit toward the end of the season and read off of each other”

This summer: In a word: weight.

“Just getting stronger, faster, bigger,” Rinzel said. “Keep filling out my frame. Make sure (with my) shot, I’m finding those holes. When you’re from the point, you’re working through a lot of bodies in front. Just keep working on my shot a little bit, trying to get to score.”

Connor Murphy, defenseman

Next season: Barring some veteran free-agent additions, Murphy, 32, will be tasked with shepherding what could be the Hawks’ youngest defensive group in recent memory.

This summer: Like every offseason, he spends time with family in Columbus, Ohio.

“We have a 9-month-old, so preparing for his birthday this summer will be fun,” Murphy said.

Then he’ll pivot to training.

“We’ve had a good regimen here with (strength and conditioning coach Paul) Goodman and Brian Keane, on ice and off ice,” he said. “Sit down with them and talk about some goals and get specific again about the offseason training.

“I enjoy that time of year, trying to home in on specific things and try to get some specific results to feel different once the next season starts.”

Ethan Del Mastro, defenseman

Next season: The retirement of Alec Martinez and probable buyout of T.J. Brodie likely opens a roster spot, though the Hawks could add a free agent.

Del Mastro also will face competition from Wyatt Kaiser and other prospects. However, Sörensen said Del Mastro showed “really good progress.”

“Really good development all year, from the start of the year in Rockford till up here,” Sörensen said. “Reliable, positionally strong, defensively he gets stops, poised under pressure.”

This summer: He plans to keep working with Shield Athletics in Burlington, Ontario. But after 24 games with the Hawks, he has learned not to overdo it.

“I was talking to some of the other guys, and they let you know that rest is a weapon,” he said. “You don’t want to be burnt out halfway through the year.”

So Del Mastro plans to “take some time off the ice, let your body (recover), stay away from the rink and not skate so much — for a little bit at least.”

Spencer Knight, goaltender

Next season: Knight’s save percentage went down (.907 to .896) and his goals-against average went up (2.40 to 3.18) after the move from Florida to Chicago. Not surprising.

But he has been unfazed about assuming the No. 1 goalie spot. A restricted free agent after next season, he’ll have a year to cement the role.

This summer: Knight has begun to find middle ground with goaltending coach Jimmy Waite during 15 starts together.

“There’s more looking at the broader thing and you’re looking at the direction you want to go,” Knight said. “There are a lot of steps to take. I think we have a good group of people that are willing to do that.”

For now, one offseason priority is sorting out where to live in Chicago.

“This street’s loud, this street’s not,” he said. “There are so many little things that go into living in a city that you don’t think of in Florida. … The only thing bothering me might be the lizards in my backyard.”

Arvid Söderblom, goaltender

Next season: The restricted free agent has to re-sign with the Hawks, but that seems likely. Söderblom might have to contend with Laurent Brossoit, who missed the entire season with a right knee injury.

“I think it’s going to be a competition,” Davidson said. “We’d be fortunate to be in that position because it means LB is healthy.”

This summer: Söderblom plans to stay the course, building on the marginal improvement he made from 2023-24.

“Just keep going the way I’ve been doing and not trying to focus on circumstances and stuff like that, because it’s been a lot of that this year, stuff gone wrong,” he said. “So the one thing I’ve been doing good, I feel like, is to just take it day by day, focus on my folks in my development, and then everything else kind of falls in place.”

The lottery to determine the top 16 picks in the June draft will be held at the NHL Network’s studio in New Jersey and broadcast on ESPN.

The Chicago Blackhawks have the second-best odds at 13.5%, followed by the Nashville Predators at 11.5%, Philadelphia Flyers at 9.5% and Boston Bruins at 8.5%. The Blackhawks won the lottery in 2023 and picked Connor Bedard with the first pick.

The lottery is conducted in two phases with the first to determine the No. 1 pick and the second to determine the No. 2 pick. Teams can only move up 10 spots in the order, meaning only the bottom 11 teams have a chance at the first pick.

This draft is not considered to be one of the stronger ones in recent years at the top with defenseman Matthew Schaefer and center Michael Misa of the Ontario Hockey League ranked by the league’s central scouting bureau as the top two North American skaters available.

The Sharks won the lottery last year and picked Macklin Celebrini first overall. Celebrini had 25 goals and 38 assists in an impressive rookie season but San Jose still finished with the worst record in the NHL.

That gives the Sharks a 25.5% chance of getting the No. 1 pick again, either by winning the lottery or if the teams in the 12th through 16th spots win and can’t move up to No. 1.

And it makes no difference that college hockey wasn’t on his radar growing up in North Vancouver and regularly attending WHL games with his younger brother Macklin, the NHL’s draft’s No. 1 pick last summer.

“We didn’t know much about college hockey,” Celebrini said during the Frozen Four championship in St. Louis. “Going to Vancouver Giants games, that was always kind of our dream to play in the WHL and then eventually play in the NHL.”

It’s a dream Macklin has already achieved in completing his rookie season with the San Jose Sharks and after one year at BU. Aiden could well follow after being drafted by his hometown Canucks in 2023.

Last fall, the NCAA made a landmark eligibility decision to allow Canadian Hockey League players to compete at the college level. The ruling frees today’s players from the either-or choice the Celebrinis faced to either join the CHL team that drafted them or preserve their college eligibility as they did by playing at the Canadian Junior A or USHL levels — Aiden in Alberta and Macklin in Chicago.

“I’m kind of jealous,” Aiden Celebrini said. “I think it’s awesome that guys can experience both now because I think the WHL is a top league, and obviously the NCAA is also. It’s great to have that kind of pipeline now.”

While players will benefit most, the NCAA ruling has the potential to dramatically tilt North America’s junior hockey developmental landscape toward U.S. colleges in a fundamental altering of how prospects reach the NHL.

Paths to the NHL

The route for many has traditionally run through the CHL’s three leagues, the WHL, OHL and QMJHL.

The CHL remains the clear leader in having 839 players drafted from 2015-24, with the NCAA’s 74 a distant seventh. And yet, of those 74 college players, 63 were chosen in the first round, including two Canadians selected first overall (Celebrini and Michigan’s Owen Power in 2021).

College hockey players now make up about a third of NHL rosters, up from 20% in 2000, with Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf envisioning that number growing.

“I don’t think it’s that complicated. There’ll be an increasing number of NHLers that come from college,” Metcalf told The Associated Press at the Frozen Four. ”(The CHL and USHL) will feed players up into college hockey. And college hockey will feed the players up to the NHL.”

College money

College sports awaits the final approval of a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement that will change the economics across the NCAA and its hundreds of member schools by allowing revenue sharing. That, and the availability of NIL endorsement money, will provide college programs beyond football and basketball different resources to attract recruits.

A hot topic of discussion at the Frozen Four was the potential of hockey programs making six-figures offer to lure top-end CHL players, such as Medicine Hat forward Gavin McKenna, already projected to be No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL draft.

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“The better talent we can get into college hockey, the better it is for college hockey. So access to a new talent pool is a good thing,” said Western Michigan athletic director Dan Bartholomae, whose Broncos won their first title.

“We’re going to compete in that space,” he added of an athletic department in the midst of building a $500 million new downtown arena. “We could grow a little bit in the sport of hockey, and we’re planning to.”

A resized talent pool?

Questions include how much college hockey can expand, given the eight-figure price tag to launch a Division I program, and how the CHL and USHL adapt. CHL President Dan MacKenzie doesn’t expect his three leagues to take a back seat to anyone.

“The changes have been monumental, obviously. We’ve all been trying to get an handle on what’s going to happen,” he said. “What we’ve seen in those five months is the CHL basically get stronger.”

For proof, MacKenzie noted that 205 CHL alumni, representing more than 50% of NHL rosters, are currently competing in the playoffs. He also pointed to NHL Central Scouting having 170 CHL players included in their pre-draft rankings, the most ever.

Expansion is on the horizon, with the WHL preparing to launch two teams in British Columbia, which would increase the CHL’s total to 60.

“Every player is going to make a different decision,” MacKenzie said. “All we can do is try to run a whole bunch of great programs across our teams and leagues and let the chips fall, because we feel pretty confident that we’re going to be the destination for that player.”

The challenge for the USA Hockey-backed USHL is somewhat different in staying competitive while maintaining its objectives of growing the game across American and developing U.S.-born talent.

The initial fallout from the NCAA ruling led to two teams, Youngstown and Muskegon, being rejected in their bid to leave the USHL and join the OHL. All 16 teams have since committed to remaining in the USHL next year.

Commissioner Glenn Hefferan dismissed the potential of a lawsuit by noting the USHL has anti-trust protections. He instead foresees a future in which the USHL and CHL forge closer bonds, with the potential of inter-league preseason games on the horizon.

Canada vs. USA

A bigger concern is the NCAA’s change in eligibility rules leading to Canadians potentially displacing Americans on college rosters. Hefferan and USA Hockey executive director Pat Kelleher both said they’d like to see the U.S. Congress cap the number of international players on college teams.

Hockey East’s Metcalf dismissed that proposal outright.

“My immediate reaction is that’s the opposite direction we’re going in,” Metcalf said. “College hockey is interested in getting the best players they can from where ever they’re from.”

In the meantime, the NHL is monitoring developments and might eventually need to weigh in, with input from the NHL Players’ Association.

Currently, NHL teams retain the draft rights to players for 30 days after they leave college. By comparison, teams hold CHL players’ right for two seasons after being drafted.

One benefit NHL teams have in drafting college players is, once signed those players can be sent directly to the minors. CHL players must be returned to their CHL teams until their eligibility expires.

“The NCAA made whatever decision, and we’re all going to have to adjust,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “We’re going to have to talk to the union and understand how we think it works based on the current rule and what maybe we need to modify to be reflective of the way we think things would flow best.”

AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed

Kevin Korchinski tied the game 1-1 late in the second period. Drew Commesso made some big saves late to send the game to overtime. And Artyom Levshunov bagged the game-winner in OT on a power play.

“We played a full 60 (minute)-plus game, and Arty, it was a great goal and put us over the hump,” Korchinski said. “Messo, obviously, was standing on his head.”

The IceHogs’ 2-1 victory over the host Wolves was also a playoff first for interim coach Mark Eaton, a first-time head coach on any level.

“It’s not really about me,” he said. “I’m so happy for the guys, they’re stepping up to this occasion. For veteran guys, they’re getting an opportunity to play playoff hockey and hopefully make a deep run. And for our young guys, our prospects, this playoff experience is going to serve them well throughout their careers.”

Eaton, the Hawks assistant general manager of player development, was tapped to lead the Hogs when Sörensen was called up to Chicago midseason to replace Luke Richardson, who was fired.

After starting 8-9-2 under Sörensen, the Hogs finished the regular season 23-24-6 under Eaton.

Veteran forward Brett Seney said Eaton has “been great” and also credited assistant coach Rob Klinkhammer for taking on more responsibility. “I think Eats just kind of let him run with that,” Seney said.

Eaton said the transition from NHL defenseman to development chief to coach has been about adjusting his perspective.

“You see things a certain way as a player,” he said. “You see the game a certain way when you’re in player development. As a player, I used to know what my job was as a defenseman. But (as a coach, you have to) learn systems and learning every player’s jobs within a system.

“I’m sure a lot is falling on our coaching staff. They’ve had to teach me and all that. And it’s been a great learning experience for me.”

Rockford IceHogs to watch in the AHL playoffs: ‘We’re coming into what’s hopefully going to be a very special time’

Here’s a closer look at four IceHogs who played prominent roles in the Game 1 win.

1. You want ‘creative’ from Korchinski? How’s this for creative?

During the Hawks’ end-of-season interviews last week, Davidson acknowledged Korchinski, 20, had “some struggles, but the thing with Kevin that we forget is that he’s a really young defenseman.

“He was here all of last year (as a rookie), so it’s easy to forget how old he actually is.”

Davidson added Korchinski’s “raw talent” took steps forward, but he didn’t always maximize his gifts with the Hawks.

“Would he have liked to create a little more offensively? Would he have liked to feel a little more steady in some of his stints here? Yeah,” Davidson said. “But we’ve seen players go up, down, come back.”

How’s this for creative, albeit unintentionally.

Korchinski’s goal for the IceHogs bounced off the back wall, and as Wolves goalie Spencer Martin tried in vain to find the puck, he inadvertently pulled it into the goal with his leg.

“A goal is a goal, right?” Eaton said. “There’s no pictures on the score sheet.”

Added Korchinski: “I guess that’s the hockey gods just kind of helping us out.” He recalled how his first NHL goal, on Nov. 9, 2023, in Tampa, Fla., went in off defenseman Darren Raddysh’s skate.

“If you just shoot the puck, you can get bounces,” Korchinski said. “So just kind of a note to me. I’m usually a passer first, so shoot the puck more.”

While he’s taking notes, Korchinski had this response to Davidson’s note about showing more creativity: “All over the ice, you want to try and make plays, but at the same time, you’ve got to be simple. You can’t be too fancy. And especially at the blue (line), you’ve got to make the right play.”

Korchinski made the right play on a key block in the third period, but he hurt his right knee, which was wrapped in ice after the game.

“I can skate on it,” he said, adding he has no doubt he’ll play in Friday’s Game 2 in Rockford. “I took a couple shifts off. You don’t want to go out there, and especially with a 1-1 game, cost your team because you’re trying to be a hero.”

2. Levshunov ‘knows he’s got the talent.’

Levshunov has yet to score his first NHL goal, but he had a 36.4% shots-through percentage on the power play compared with 30.9% at even strength.

In Game 1 of the AHL playoffs, his shot slipped through a lot of traffic — and fooled Martin on a far-side angle — to secure the overtime win with a power-play goal. Levshunov also cleared a puck from the blue paint earlier in the game and saved a goal for Commesso.

“He’s been great since coming down from Chicago,” Seney said. “You can tell he’s got the confidence. A couple plays up top, he danced a couple of their forwards. … He knows he’s got the talent to do it at this level.”

Eaton liked Levshunov’s intensity throughout the game.

“All the things that made him successful at the NHL level, our expectation was that he brings that down here, (he) relishes this playoff opportunity that he’s getting, and he was able to do that,” Eaton said.

3. Commesso had his best playoff showing.

Commesso is looking for better outcomes than his first taste of the AHL playoffs last season: eight goals allowed in three games, with a 2.57 goals against average.

He held the Wolves to one goal, making 20 saves. He also stopped one puck that was hugging the line from crossing over. And with 42 seconds left in regulation, he thwarted a two-on-one that began off a bad pass from Levshunov.

“He’s been so solid, making the saves you expect him to make, but then making the big ones when called upon,” Eaton said. “And he made some big saves tonight on two-on-ones, kept the score level, and ultimately, gave us that opportunity to win in overtime.”

4. Newcomer Aidan Thompson has caught on quickly.

After Thompson’s NCAA Tournament run with the University of Denver ended, he signed a two-year, entry-level contract ($895,000 salary-cap hit) with the Hawks.

The forward joined the IceHogs on a professional tryout for Rockford’s final four regular-season games before making his playoff debut Wednesday.

“Aidan’s been great,” Eaton said. “He’s stepped right in. He kind of shows the offensive IQ that he has, the quickness, the strength on pucks, the ability to create separation. And I think he’s transitioning seamlessly to the pro level here.”

The Hawks liked his speed when they drafted him in the third round in 2022.

Seney thought Thompson stood out against the Wolves.

“Thompson was great, a kid in maybe his fifth game with us,” he said. “And he was one of our best forwards. He had a lot of chances.”

So earlier this month, he didn’t mind a three-hour drive from Indianapolis to Chicago to catch a late Hawks game against the Colorado Avalanche at the United Center.

After all, several of the Hawks, arguably more than usual, had been his players in Rockford.

“I know it’s frustrating for the Blackhawks fans if they’re just looking at the record, but I think it’s a very exciting time to be a Blackhawks fan with all of these young, highly skilled prospects that are in Chicago,” Bernard told the Tribune. “I think we’re coming into what’s hopefully going to be a very special time.”

Several of those players have returned to Rockford — and the IceHogs have added others — to get valuable playoff experience in the AHL, starting with a best-of-three series against the Chicago Wolves, who beat the Hogs 5-0 in the regular season finale Saturday.

Game 1 is Wednesday at Allstate Arena.

Bernard said, “There’s a lot of high-end talent, talent right now that are — what is there, I think 17 players on the roster right now that are 25 and under — that’s very exciting.

“The young players are going to make young mistakes, but they’re going to learn from them. And we’re going to have an exciting team here for a long time.”

Here are four IceHogs to watch in this series.

Artyom Levshunov, defenseman

Contract status: He just completed his first year of a three-year deal with the Hawks ($975,000 cap hit).

Outlook: Levshunov began the season in Rockford before joining the Hawks in March and putting up six assists (two on the power play) in 18 games. He was sent back to the IceHogs after the Hawks’ finale last week to get more seasoning.

About his game: Levshunov showed some instincts that belie his paucity of pro experience — AHL or NHL.

He’s spent a year in the USHL, a year in college and split this past season: 52 games in Rockford and 18 in Chicago.

“He’s 19,” general manager Kyle Davidson said. “Defensemen are normally in a tough spot when they have to jump into a higher level of hockey that quickly. But I think some of the things that he does, you can’t teach.

“You just can’t teach that type of natural talent.”

But despite signs of “rapid development,” Davidson emphasized that Levshunov is far from a polished product.

“Maybe not the strongest start for him in Rockford, but that’s also because of his (right foot) injury situation, getting in, not getting any reps in training camp, other than by himself, basically no pucks, and then getting thrown into a whole new level of play in pro hockey,” Davidson said. “And so there was some assimilation that needed to take place there. But once he got up to speed and got comfortable, I think you saw the confidence and the play take off.

“And then we brought him up to give him some experience.”

The Hawks hope a playoff run with the IceHogs provides more situational experience for Levshunov.

Bernard said, “You’re going to make a mistake, but then grow from it, learn from it, and work on being consistent.

“Not even each game, but each shift to shift.”

Taige Harding, defenseman

Contract status: He signed a two-year, entry-level contract on April 1 ($867,500 salary cap hit).

Outlook: The 6-foot-7 blueliner will play out the rest of the IceHogs’ season as an amateur tryout (ATO) after putting up two goals and 12 assists in 37 games for Providence College, helping the Friars reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019.

About his game: At 6-7, he trails only 6-9 defenseman Louis Crevier in the system.

Bernard said of Harding, “With that kind of size, we’re going to be counting on him to take away time and space from the opposition very quickly. He has a great reach, so his stick is going to be very, very vital to him at this level.”

At 6-7, with his reach, Bernard believes Harding can control the net front, dominate in the corner and “just be a good puck mover.”

Mark Eaton, who left his job as Hawks personnel chief to replace Anders Sörensen as IceHogs coach, described Harding as “a big body, has a ton of reach, has a physical element to him. I always thought that his game might translate better to the pro level than it did in college.”

Harding said his game is just about keeping it simple and letting his natural attributes take over.

“I’m a big guy, (it helps) if I use my stick, use my reach,” Harding said. “I’d say defense is my specialty, but I don’t mind chipping in offensively.”

As a big player, he’s said it’s especially important to refine his skating, “just working on foot speed and closing gaps.”

Nolan Allan, defenseman

Contract status: He’ll be entering the final year of his contract next season ($825,000 cap hit) before he becomes a restricted free agent.

Outlook: The stakes are high for Allan. He’s a left-shooting defenseman and the Hawks’ pipeline is stocked with them.

For a big defenseman, he didn’t cement himself as a physical defender, and he was sent down to Rockford on Feb. 28.

Bernard said, “He was getting healthy-scratched a little bit before the Four Nations break. … A young player sitting in the press box, eating popcorn, that’s not good for you.”

About his game: Allan is 6-2, 195 pounds, and “a player of his strength and size, he has that frame and that build to be very tough to play against in front of the net, in the corners, win those one-on-one puck battles,” Bernard said. “We come back to the word ‘consistency,’ doing it on a consistent, nightly basis.”

Allan said he’s heard the same things from Hawks coaches as well, and he’s working on being “hard in front” of the net as well as “trying to keep pucks going, and work on my offensive ability.”

As far as his place in the Hawks’ future, “you just got to focus on being present, in the here and now and just focus on yourself,” Allan said. “You’ve just got to focus on what you can control and improving each and every day. Things all happen the way they’re supposed to.”

Samuel Savoie, forward

Contract status: He’ll have two seasons left at a $846,667 cap hit before he becomes a restricted free agent.

Outlook: He put up seven goals and 15 assists in 72 games in Rockford. The Hawks have loaded up on talented forwards in the last couple of drafts.

Savoie’s high motor gives him a shot as a depth forward — you’ll need some Mustang GTs among the Maseratis — but he’s still raw in some ways.

About his game: Savoie sees himself as more than an Energizer bunny who hits people — and he has the broken leg he sustained in the 2023 NHL preseason to thank.

“From my broken femur last year, getting strong in my legs, making sure there’s no pain, all the rehab and that stuff, I think it made my legs stronger and I think I’m a bit faster,” he said.

Now, Savoie recognizes that his play off the puck is his path to sticking in the NHL.

“That’s my base, being an energy guy, having a lot of grit and finishing my checks, but I think I’ve been doing a lot of (making) plays this year,” he said. “Just behind the net, tight areas in the O-zone, I’ve been creating a lot.”

Eaton said a lot of AHL rookies, like Savoie, hit a wall around late January, early February.

“I don’t think it was any different for him, but I think he’s getting his second wind,” Eaton said earlier this month. “He’s learning this league. He’s learning the pro game, learning how his assets translate at this level, how to use them effectively.

“And his burst, his power, his speed is his biggest asset, and that is definitely something that shows up on the penalty kill.”

Roommates in Rockford, these Chicago Blackhawks prospects shared everything — including each other’s burdens

Savoie had two shorthanded goals — and several other breakaway opportunities — in the regular season, a point of pride for him.

“I’m a shorthanded kind of player, that’s part of my game, energy,” he said. “Sometimes there’s a free puck, I can go with my speed, drive my legs.”

Savoie also believes his hands got better.

“I think before, my feet were moving too fast for my hands,” he said.

Still, if there’s room for improvement in his remaining games this season, it’s “probably my scoring touch, just my release,” Savoie said. “(If) I can get my shot off a bit quicker … I might score more goals.”

Looking back on the season, Davidson dealt with several curveballs: firing a coach, a player’s very public trade request and a worse-than-expected finish in the standings.

But the biggest bombshell was learning he needed to replace a pulmonary valve in his heart, just days before his second daughter, Charlotte, was born, and a couple of weeks before he dismissed coach Luke Richardson.

“It was a challenging season for myself,” he said during end-of-season interviews Thursday at Fifth Third Arena. “I would say that’s mostly away from the rink. … New child, a heart surgery and going through that whole situation where … feeling the way I was feeling, finding out the news, going through the process of second, third opinions and doing that all while in between work. That’s not easy.

“I didn’t have heart surgery on my bingo card this year.”

Earlier this season, Davidson talked to the Tribune about the challenges — “curveballs and grenades, ups and downs,” he later called it — that he navigated in his third full season since he was promoted from interim general manager to the permanent role in March 2022.

One particular episode in mid-November tested him and his family.

But you have to start at the beginning.

“I was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect, and so I’ve been followed by a cardiologist my whole life,” the 36-year-old Sudbury, Ontario, native said. “I had two open hearts really early on in life (as an infant), another open-heart (surgery) in November 2019, and so I’m very in tune with what is normal for me and what’s not.”

“Yeah, it’s a lot,” Davidson’s wife, Angelica, told the Tribune. “When he initially told me about it (while dating), it was just something he kind of just brushed off: ‘By the way, I’ve got this heart condition, not a big deal. Doesn’t affect anything in life.’

“Like, ‘OK, that’s good. You should probably see a cardiologist, though.’ And he is like, ‘Yeah, you’re right. And fast forward a couple weeks later, he’s like, ‘Yeah, I need open-heart surgery.’

“We weren’t even dating a year, and I was obviously not married, no kids, and I was still scared out of my mind.”

Davidson had surgery for a pulmonary valve replacement in November 2019, and he was told it would likely last 10 to 15 years.

But he started experiencing symptoms that something was amiss in late August and early September.

“It’s a combination of palpitations, fatigue, inability to really do workouts that I would be able to do previously; shortness of breath, especially laying on my back,” Davidson said. “All kinds of things that are little signs along the way that something isn’t working especially well.”

He got tested and the results indicated some abnormalities with the pulmonary valve, and he and his physicians had a plan for more testing and treatment.

Column: It’s a turbulent week for Chicago’s top sports executives, who could use a group hug

But then he experienced another bout of heart palpitations, “a really aggressive beating of the heart,” Davidson said. “It kind of threw up some flags.”

Davidson admitted himself to a hospital in Chicago around the time the Hawks were out west for games in Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, from Nov. 14-16.

“So during that time more tests showed that, you know what there is, there is a failure of the pulmonary valve, and it needs to be replaced,” he said.

It came as a shock. Typically, replacement valves last at least a decade, and it was only five years for Davidson’s.

“That was a tough bit of news,” he said. “It was at a time where the team wasn’t doing as well. My wife is basically at her due date with our second daughter. … Our daughter, Charlotte, was born on the 26th. So, like, literally a week later.”

Davidson, now with two young daughters, Charlotte and Willa, pushed his health concerns to the back-burner.

But he knew at some point that season, his heart problem needed to be addressed.

“For myself, there are leaflets in a valve that allow blood flow in and out,” Davidson said. “(As) it was explained to me, one of the leaflets was just basically nonexistent. It just wasn’t working anymore … causing the heart to work much harder than it needs to, and thus enlarging the heart.”

Meanwhile, the Hawks kept looking worse, with young franchise player Connor Bedard admitting “you lose a bit of confidence” during a 12-game goal drought.

Finally, when the Hawks had gone on a four-game losing streak with a Dec. 4 home loss to the Boston Bruins — eight losses in 10 games — Davidson decided to pull the plug.

The next day, he fired Richardson and promoted Rockford IceHogs coach Anders Sörensen to Hawks interim coach.

Davidson wasn’t going to wait for a time that was more convenient to his personal life.

“It’s not necessarily something that I decided that night or that game, like it’s a little bit of an accumulation, naturally,” he said. “But no, I never considered kicking anything down the road, probably other than my health.

“If something’s going to be delayed, it’s me.”

On the day of the Bruins game, while Davidson’s head was in “10 different places,” he and his family filmed a segment for the NHL’s “Road to the Winter Classic,” going behind the scenes of the lead-up to the Hawks’ nationally televised game against the St. Louis Blues on New Year’s Eve at Wrigley Field.

“My wife’s on camera talking, and I’m just thinking about, like, medical visits, game that night, hopefully we don’t have to make a coaching change, but we’re really close,” he said.

The taping “was in the afternoon. The next morning, we made a coaching change,” he said.

Angelica remembered how Davidson was at that time: “He was just down about having to make that call. …  When he has to make those decisions, it genuinely weighs on him.

“He loses sleep over that stuff and what that’s going to feel like for Luke and his family.”

Davidson hasn’t backed away from his decision — or the timing of it.

“The job never stops,” he said. “If anything, I kicked the can for my heart down the road. … Postponing the job was never a consideration.”

But he could only put off the choice he faced for so long: open-heart surgery, which required a long recovery process, or a less invasive, outpatient transcatheter procedure, which called for making an incision in the groin area and inserting a replacement valve, which is then guided up to the heart.

After gathering more information about both options, he learned that in his case, medically, one wasn’t any more beneficial long term than the other.

And Davidson remembered what it was like recovering from heart surgery in 2019.

“I think some of the most intense pain I’ve experienced is sneezing or coughing or even laughing after getting open heart and that sternum is healing itself,” he said. “The chest plates have to grow back together. And so it’s really intense. It’s not something I wanted to experience again.”

It was decided: transcatheter.

The Davidsons drove up to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for a valve replacement scheduled for Feb. 11.

“We actually ended up having to take Charlotte with us on that five-hour car ride,” Angelica said.

Since then Davidson has had check-ins with his cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital while keeping doctors at the Mayo Clinic informed of his progress.

Still, he didn’t get much of a reprieve.

Later that month, defenseman Seth Jones went public with his desire to be traded to a contender before the March 7 deadline. The Hawks swung a deal to trade Jones to the Florida Panthers on March 1.

Throughout the season, Davidson had been “forced” to delegate more to his staff more than what’s normally within his comfort zone.

If a test he needed to do required anesthesia, “you can’t jump right back to the office,” Davidson said. “And so you do have to lean on them.

“(Associate general manager) Norm (Maciver) is going to be with the coaches for this number of games. Or (assistant general manager) Meghan (Hunter) is going to handle something going on in the front office. … Or someone needs to go see that game in Rockford that I can’t attend now.”

Colleagues with the Hawks wonder how he managed it all this season.

“Incredibly, he finds a way to balance it all, which is just so impressive,” Chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz said.

Defenseman Connor Murphy added that team executives “don’t really have any time off, and even on off days, they spend a lot of times on the phones and in offices trying to get stuff done,” he said. “So you feel for him and hope (he) and his family are healthy.”

Despite receiving a positive prognosis for his procedure, Davidson acknowledges that he can never fully put his heart condition behind him.

It’s a lifelong companion.

“It’s going to be something that’s in the back of my mind for the rest of my life,” he said. ” ‘How is it going to hold up?’ … “There’s still that little seed of doubt and that maybe, like a grain of sand that keeps grinding, keeps grinding.”

It weighs on Angelica too.

“It just seems like the stakes are just so much higher given that we’ve had more time in our relationship,” she said. “Now we’re married, we also have these two little girls. He already has so much on his plate with his job and traveling and everything that occupies his mental space there. So it’s been a lot to navigate for the both of us, for sure.”

For Davidson, going through that adversity shapes who he is now.

“It changes you,” he said. “It has to. … It doesn’t change the hockey side of my managing and what I see on the ice, but it changes how you handle adverse situations. … You can call back on on how you managed through something like that.”

If there was a rainbow after the storm, it came from the future.

In the second half of the season, the Hawks started calling up high-end prospects from Rockford or signing them after their college seasons.

Landon Slaggert, Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, Oliver Moore, for example, and they performed beyond expectations.

Frank Nazar, who came up in the first half, looked like a future star by the end of the season.

Wirtz said he’s proud Davidson’s seeing “the fruit of his labor start to come to fruition.”

“The first part of his tenure was just assembling the assets and the pieces,” Wirtz said. “Now they’re actually players that are on the ice that we’re starting to see them become real players in the NHL. …

“Still a long way to go, but now you’re starting to see it, and it’s exciting.”

The 25-46-11 season ended with two straight wins and a standings point in five of the last six games — what constitutes as a high note by Hawks standards in recent seasons.

And given how the team finished, powered by the youth movement, Davidson said he can’t help but be optimistic. So he looks forward to getting back in shape, prioritizing family and putting the job on the back-burner. For now.

“This is a challenging job. It doesn’t matter what year,” he said during the exit interviews Thursday. “There’s going to be curveballs and grenades, ups and downs and whatever you have to deal with. … It’s all part of our growth and maturation as an organization, as a team, in this rebuild. …

“I feel like at the end of the day, standing here now, that we feel like we’re in a good spot moving forward.”

While there are other ways to watch the nascent network, including competing pay-TV providers, streaming services and over-the-air TV, at least one sports industry expert believes CHSN and the White Sox may need to think outside the cable box this summer to stay relevant.

“They may need to put some games on WGN or some other over-the-air channels,” said Marc Ganis, a Chicago-based sports marketing consultant. “And then you sell commercial time and see if maybe the White Sox can get some traction in the marketplace based on simply being on free TV.”

CHSN is broadcast over-the-air in Chicago on the digital subchannels of WJYS-Ch. 62, but viewers need to buy an add-on antenna to get the programming. Ganis believes running some games on a mainstream Chicago TV station such as WGN, which previously carried the Cubs, Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks, would provide broader distribution and the opportunity for cross-promotion to get CHSN off the ground.

A report in the Chicago Sun-Times Friday suggested that WGN-TV is open to a deal with CHSN. Spokespersons for the TV station and the regional sports network declined to comment.

A joint venture between the Sox, Bulls, Blackhawks and Nashville, Tennessee-based Standard Media, CHSN went live Oct.1 on pay-TV platforms DirecTV and Astound, and over the air on WJYS-Ch. 62. It subsequently added streaming service FuboTV and its own direct-to-consumer streaming app, but has yet to strike a deal with Comcast, the market’s largest pay-TV provider.

Comcast was a partner in the predecessor NBC Sports Chicago, the regional sports network which ended a 20-year run in September at the conclusion of a White Sox season that saw the team set an MLB record for losses.

A Comcast spokesperson said in an email Thursday the cable giant is “continuing to have discussions” with CHSN but had no updates to share.

Sources familiar with the negotiations said Comcast is looking to move both CHSN and Marquee Sports Network, the pay-TV home of the Cubs, to its more expensive Ultimate tier, something it has done with other regional sports networks across the U.S. in recent months.

Marquee, which launched in 2020, has remained on Comcast through a series of short-term extensions after its inaugural carriage agreement expired Sept. 30. A Marquee spokesperson did not return a request for comment this week.

Column: Free TV could be the poison pill in the Chicago Sports Network’s impasse with Comcast — and a deal may take awhile

The Ultimate tier costs an additional $20 per month — on top of the $20.25 regional sports network fee Comcast charges Chicago-area subscribers each month. Comcast has been issuing a monthly $8.85 credit to partially offset that fee during the ongoing carriage negotiations with CHSN.

A similar battle had been playing out in New York, where Comcast threatened to black out the Yankees’ YES network before opening day as it looked to move the broadcasts to its Ultimate tier. The Federal Communications Commission weighed in and an agreement was reached to keep the YES network on Comcast’s basic tier, at least for now.

Last week, Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the White Sox and Bulls, made a visit to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, ostensibly to lobby for government help in getting CHSN on the air with Comcast in Chicago.

Ganis said CHSN and the White Sox have a lot less leverage than YES and the Yankees, who have a winning tradition, a larger fan base and big TV ratings.

“The big difference is how many people watch Yankee games in New York — it’s hundreds of thousands,” Ganis said. “It’s very different than the number of people who watch White Sox games in Chicago, even when they were on Comcast.”

Last year, when the White Sox lost a record 121 games, the TV audience during the team’s final season on NBC Sports Chicago shrank to a fractional .7 rating, according to Nielsen data. Sox games averaged a 1.0 rating in 2023 and 1.7 rating the previous year.

For comparison, the Cubs averaged a 4.5 rating on NBC Sports Chicago during the team’s championship season in 2016.

CHSN has yet to provide TV ratings for the inaugural Bulls, Hawks and Sox seasons.

Ganis suggested Comcast can afford to play hardball with CHSN on carriage negotiations because the three teams on the network do not necessarily make for must-see TV.

The Hawks missed the playoffs and the young Bulls fell flat in their play-in game Wednesday against the Heat and also missed the playoffs. And the White Sox, off to a dismal start to the new season, are actually on pace to set a new record for futility.

Meanwhile, one million Chicago-area Comcast subscribers who didn’t cut the cord, switch pay-TV providers or buy an antenna, may have missed the entire Bulls and Blackhawks seasons, with the new White Sox campaign slipping away by the day.

“It’s bad timing for all three teams to be in the valley of their success cycles,” Ganis said.  “Maybe one of the ways they can break that paradigm is to add visibility by putting a lot of the games on free television.”

rchannick@chicagotribune.com

This is one of those occasions, a week in which the bosses of the Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox and Blackhawks could send a “Hang in there” text and fist-bump emoji on their group chat, knowing they all could use a group hug.

Our five fearless executives go by different titles but have two things in common: They work for a professional sports franchise in Chicago and have received poor job performance reviews from their respective fan bases.

Bears general manager Ryan Poles, Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, Sox GM Chris Getz and Hawks GM Kyle Davidson — also known by their pseudonyms, “Poles,” “AK,” “Jed,” “Getz” and “Kyle from Chicago” — have all had an interesting week.

Let’s start with Karnišovas, who held his annual autopsy Thursday after the Bulls’ play-in implosion and actually answered a question from CHGO’s Will Gottlieb by pointing out that Gottlieb “projected” the Bulls to win 28 games and instead they won 39. Scientists might have to do studies to find any human being, outside the White House, with thinner skin than AK.

Karnišovas brought up the Bulls’ 15-5 finish and asked for patience, downplaying Wednesday’s brutal ending as angry Bulls fans watched the Miami Heat outsmart, outcoach and outhustle their team in a gruesome, season-ending 109-90 loss.

It was gaslighting at its finest. You can only imagine how Karnišovas felt when he logged on to his laptop Thursday morning and saw that his old trading partner, Sacramento Kings GM Monte McNair, already had been jettisoned after Wednesday’s play-in loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

“Wow,” he might have thought in a brief moment of self-awareness. “Lucky me!”

Many owners would look at the Bulls’ 195-205 record in Karnišovas’ five years on the job and ask themselves whether a change is mandatory to appease an impatient fan base. So look for an extension for AK from the ruling Reinsdorfs, Jerry and Michael, who aren’t in any hurry to mess with the status quo.

Photos: Chicago Bulls’ end-of-season news conference after finishing season short of playoffs

Next up is Getz, who sarcastically “guaranteed” before the season the Sox would not lose 121 games again, getting a big laugh for his bold projection. Even a younger and less talented roster couldn’t repeat that nightmare, right?

Right?

But the Sox are 4-14 after Thursday’s 8-0 loss to the Athletics at Rate Field and are hitting .196 as a team. The “No-Hitter Alert” chyron will be on autoplay for Sox games on Chicago Sports Network, as it was Sunday for Garrett Crochet’s no-hit bid in his return to the South Side.

Getz had reason this spring to be optimistic thanks to the play of future ex-Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr., his only real trade chip. But Robert has started off slow again and is hitting .136 with a .438 OPS — one of three in Thursday’s lineup at .450 or below with Miguel Vargas (.449) and Andrew Vaughn (.450).

Robert on Saturday ended a 46-game homerless streak that conjured memories of Tim Anderson’s 96-game streak that ended July 29, 2023. The longer Getz waits, the lower Robert’s trade value.

Meanwhile, Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf might have to hire 24/7 security to make sure Getz doesn’t accidentally call Mike Clevinger’s agent and try to re-sign the injury-plagued pitcher for a fourth term on the South Side. The Sox won’t pony up to pay their top young starters for fear of injuries, but all bargain-basement signees are welcome, no matter their injury history.

Maybe the eventual Justin Ishbia era will change this philosophy, but would Ishbia give Getz the benefit of the doubt like Reinsdorf has?

On the other side of town, Hoyer, Getz’s BFF, is the only legacy team executive with a real chance to make the postseason in 2025. The Cubs’ 12-9 start, despite a difficult early schedule, is encouraging, though not yet cause for division title fever.

The Cubs love to use the word “depth,” as in the depth created by one of the top-rated farm systems, the depth of the overhauled bench and the depth of the rotation, with more starters stretching out at Triple-A Iowa. But now that Justin Steele is out for the year, we’ll find out whether the Cubs actually are deep in key areas or just like saying it a lot.

An early bullpen crisis has been a recurring theme during Hoyer’s presidency, and he’s in the middle of another one. The Cubs handed rookie Matt Shaw the third base job after failing to sign free agent Alex Bregman, despite an oblique injury that limited Shaw’s playing time in spring training. Shaw struggled and was sent back to Iowa, where he probably should’ve begun the season until he got more comfortable at the plate.

Hoyer’s contract is expiring, making him the Cubs’ first lame-goose president. The switch from lame duck to lame goose is necessary to honor the beloved and departed Wrigley goose, which was nesting comfortably in the bleachers during the last homestand but flew the coop, apparently realizing it wasn’t part of the Cubs’ depth.

The Blackhawks have a surplus of young talent but no indication it will lead to winning in the near future. Davidson’s fourth season in charge, including one as interim GM, ended with the NHL’s second-worst record.

No surprise. Rebuilds take a while. But, like AK, Davidson can point to the Hawks’ big finish — 4-1-1 in their last six games — as the real story of 2024-25. This qualifies as a tangible bright spot in the rebuild that keeps on building.

Re-signing Ryan Donato is Davidson’s primary task, though he also must decide whether to hire interim coach Anders Sörensen — who replaced Luke Richardson in early December and posted an unimpressive .361 winning percentage in 54 games — or find a new coach to serve as a coat holder until the rebuild finally turns the corner and a bigger name can reap the benefits of Connor Bedard’s prime.

University of Denver coach David Carle is reportedly the hottest prospect, though he’s unproven at the NHL level like the last three Hawks coaches: Jeremy Colliton, Richardson and Sörensen.

“If the right candidate comes along sooner than (the draft and free agency), that’s fine,” Davidson said Thursday. “If they come along later in the process and down weeks, months, that’s how it plays out.”

In other words, sooner or maybe later. Thanks, Kyle from Chicago.

No matter whom Davidson hires, the Hawks need to fast-forward this machine next season to keep Chairman Danny Wirtz happy. Bedard won’t be a precocious kid forever.

Of all our Big Five execs, Poles had the easiest week by far, signing cornerback Kyler Gordon and linebacker T.J. Edwards to contract extensions and practicing his draft-day speech for next Thursday.

Poles seems to enjoy secrecy and keeping people guessing. But everyone knew whom the Bears would pick with the No. 1 selection in last year’s draft, so the only pressure on Poles was to look and sound cool.

Few Bears employees came off cooler in “Hard Knocks” than Poles, who also showed his tender side in the tear-jerking scene in which he informed safety Adrian Colbert he wouldn’t make the final roster. Poles didn’t receive an Emmy and the Bears went on to finish 5-12, but few blamed Poles for the disaster.

That will change if the Bears waste another first-round pick, and there’s much debate over what Poles will do with the No. 10 selection. Another offensive lineman? A running back? A tight end? The proverbial “best player available”?

Like the rest of his peers in big-time decision-making positions in the corporate world, Poles is on the clock.