It was an unusually long offseason for the Chicago Blackhawks. After a first round playoff exit at the hands of the St. Louis Blues back in April, the Blackhawks were left with a longer rest period then they are accustomed to. Some believe the extra rest will be good for the Hawks, who have played more hockey in the past four years than any team ever has during a four year span. Others believe it is the beginning of a possible decline for the  Hawks due to the dreaded NHL Salary Cap.

During the NHL offseason, the Blackhawks had their annual salary cap crunch. On June 15th, the Hawks traded forwards Bryan Bickell and Teuvo Teräväinen to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a 2016 2nd round draft pick and a 2017 3rd round draft pick. The move was made purely to move Bickell’s ludicrous cap hit of $4 million off of the Blackhawks’ salary books, and although it succeeded in doing that, it cost the Blackhawks a young and promising forward in Teräväinen. A week later at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, the Blackhawks traded versatile forward Andrew Shaw to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for two 2nd round draft picks in the 2016 Draft. Shaw was a fan favorite in Chicago, and used his agitating style of play and net-front presence to become a key contributor on the Hawks’ Stanley Cup teams in 2013 and 2015. The Blackhawks are going to miss his personality on the ice as well as in the locker room.

The Blackhawks worked to limit the blows of those departing players by adding new, similar players.

Four days after the Hawks traded Bickell and Teuvo, they signed 2014 1st round pick Nick Schmaltz. Last season, Schmaltz scored 46 points in 37 games as a sophomore at the University of North Dakota, helping the Fighting Hawks win the 2016 NCAA ice hockey national championship. Like Teuvo, Schmaltz is a versatile forward who can play both center and wing anywhere in the top six or bottom six forward groups. It will take Schmaltz some time to adjust to the speed and rigors of the NHL, but the Hawks are hoping he will be an effective replacement to Teuvo.

The Hawks also signed forward Jordin Tootoo to a one year, $750,000 contract. The Hawks will look upon Tootoo to duplicate Shaw’s agitating style of play on the fourth line this season.

The Achilles heel of the Blackhawks last season was their inconsistent scoring lines and their lack of defensive depth. Throughout last season, the bottom defensive pairing was a revolving door that was frequented by Michael Rozsival, Trevor Daley, Rob Scuderi, Erik Gustafsson, and Viktor Svedberg. The Hawks wanted to find a defenseman that can solidify the bottom pairing.

On July 1st, they signed free agent defenseman Brian Campbell to a one year, $1.5 million contract. Campbell previously played with the Hawks from 2008-2011 and was a part of the Hawks’ Stanley Cup team in 2010. Campbell is a solid defenseman who has good puck moving skills and the ability to make the transition plays the Hawks were unable to make last season.

The Hawks also signed 26-year-old Michal Kempny to a free agent contract. The defenseman from the Czech Republic had a solid season last year in the KHL and uses his strong frame to break up opposing rushes. He’s also not afraid to lay big hits on opposing players.

During Training Camp, Blackhawk fans were formally introduced to 20-year-old Swedish defenseman Gustav Forsling. The Hawks acquired Forsling in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks back in January 2015 that sent Adam Clendening to the Canucks. Forsling impressed the Blackhawk coaches enough during training camp and six preseason games to earn a roster spot on opening night. Forsling is a fast skating defenseman who is a good puck handler and can also chip in offensively.

With the additions of Campbell, Kempny and Forsling, the Hawks should have a much improved defensive unit. The performance of the new forward additions along with how balanced each line is scoring wise will determine how successful this season will be for the Blackhawks.

The Hawks have six rookies on their opening night roster; Nick Schmaltz, Tyler Motte, Vince Hinostroza, Ryan Hartman, Gustav Forsling, and Michal Kempny. How Schmaltz, Motte, Hinostroza and Hartman contribute offensively will be a major key to the Hawks’ success. Head coach Joel Quenneville has been known to be impatient with younger players, and if any of them fail to meet expectations, they will find themselves in Rockford playing in the minors before they know it.

Last season, the Hawks were powered by their second line of Artemi Panarin, Artem Anisimov and Patrick Kane. Most of the Hawks’ scoring came from that line. If they want to be successful this season, that can’t happen again. The Hawks need consistent scoring from all four forward lines in order to compete for a playoff spot. Expect Quenneville to be creative with his forward groupings early on to see who fits where.

The Blackhawks missed out on trading for former #1 overall pick Nail Yakupov, so for now they have to make due with the forward group they have. If the Hawks get off to a good start in the regular season, expect the roster to remain relatively untouched. However, if they struggle out of the gate, major changes could be made.

For now, the Hawks are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle and compete for their fourth Stanley Cup championship in eight years.

When the final second ticked off the clock at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday afternoon, it didn’t seem real.

Team Europe absolutely dominated Team USA on their way to a 3-0 victory in the opening game of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto. Europe scored first less than two minutes into the game and never looked back. Team Europe looked faster, more skilled, and more motivated than the Americans, who were supposed to dominate their way to a 1-0 record entering their Tuesday night matchup with Team Canada.

Group A of the tournament consists of Canada, USA, Europe, and the Czech Republic. It was basically constructed so Canada and USA are the two teams that make it out of the Group and into the playoff round. But now, unless USA wins their last two games of group play (including the game against Canada), that might not happen.

Team USA is in a tough spot, a spot that they put themselves in.

USA looked uninterested and uninspired during the game, and that falls on the players and coaching staff. Many were critical when John Tortarella was hired to be the head coach the USA team instead of a coach with more recent success, like Dan Bylsma or Peter Laviolette. Tortarella’s hard nosed style of coaching worked in the past (including a Cup win with the Lightning in 2004), but hasn’t resulted in the same success in recent years. After the game yesterday, many criticized Tortarella’s decision to keep goaltender Jonathan Quick in the game when USA started to fall behind big, and his decision to make defenseman Dustin Byfuglien a healthy scratch.

The criticism isn’t just with the players and coaches, but USA Hockey management and the way they constructed the team. Instead of selecting the most skilled American born players, which is normal for a best-on-best tournament, USA Hockey assembled a team with a clear top 6 and bottom 6 forward group, leaving off top scorers like Phil Kessel and Kyle Okposo in favor of more “gritty” players like Justin Abdelkader and Brandon Dubinsky. Yesterday, Team USA looked no match for a Team Europe with a roster full of skilled players.

Despite being favored to make the playoff round, Team USA might end up missing the playoff round all together. And they have no one to blame but themselves.

You hear that? It sounds like circus music.

Where is it coming from? Why, it sounds like there’s a circus going on at U.S. Cellular Field. You know, the home of that other Chicago baseball team.

Its been a rough decade for the White Sox, who have only made the playoffs one time since their World Series victory in 2005. White Sox fans haven’t had much to cheer about and have fallen into baseball purgatory, being just good enough to hover around a .500 record, missing the playoffs consistently, and not making any major transactions to improve the team.

This past spring training the Sox once again re-entered the national spotlight, but for all of the wrong reasons. Aging White Sox first baseman Adam LaRoche retired after the front office told him to stop bringing his 13 year old son, Drake, into the clubhouse. The story recieved national attention, and sparked strong reactions from baseball fans and players alike. White Sox ace pitcher Chris Sale publicly criticized the front office, saying they should stay out of clubhouse affairs and called Drake LaRoche a “leader” in the clubhouse.

Sale made the idiotic Drake LaRoche situation even worse by his childish behavior, going so far as making a small Drake LaRoche shrine in his locker.

Amazingly, however, everyone forgot about all that nonsense when the Sox powered their way to a 23-10 record at the beginning of the season. For the first time in years, the Sox gave us hope. Then in mid May, like they do every year, crushed all of it.

The Sox went on a downward spiral that still hasn’t stopped, and entered last Saturday’s game with a 46-50 record.

I was at the game. The Sox were giving away throwback uniforms to the first 20,000 fans that entered the stadium. Sale was supposed to pitch, so I, like many other fans at the game, was excited. Then news broke that he got scratched from his scheduled start. Trade rumors began to spread throughout the stadium. Then the Sox released a statement that Sale had been sent home after an “altercation” in the clubhouse before the game.

The White Sox came out in different uniforms than the ones they were supposed to wear, confusing a lot of people in the stadium. It was revealed later that Sale objected to wearing the uniforms the Sox were supposed to wear and, when ownership refused to make a jersey switch, cut up the throwback jerseys to make them unfit to wear.

It was the Drake LaRoche situation all over again, although somehow seemed more ridiculous. This is a grown ass man taking a knife or scissors to team uniforms and cutting holes in them. You can’t make this stuff up.

I asked myself “How are the White Sox going to screw this situation up worse than it already is?” I got my answer the next day.

Sale was suspended five games for his actions, which seems like a slap in the wrist for a guy who derserves a slap to the face. In addition, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn seemed to indicate that he would face no further discipline and remain on the team past the July 31st trade deadline.

This is the culture that has been created by White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and the rest of the front office. They have screwed this organization up enough, and it seems they won’t make any big moves at the deadline to help out the future of an organization that desperately needs a future. Their best player is an overgrown crybaby who vandalizes property and clearly has issues with the front office.

The White Sox have officially become a circus, and Chris Sale is the ring leader. The country is laughing at them while the team located at the north end of the city has an exciting team and future.

From a disgruntled White Sox fan, all I can say is, enjoy the show everyone.

Well. That escalated quickly.

On Wednesday afternoon, in the span of 15 minutes, an entire offseason worth of activity happened in the NHL. I’ve never seen anything like it.

First, all the Taylor Hall trade speculation ended when the Edmonton Oilers traded him to the New Jersey Devils for young defenseman Adam Larsson. That’s big news, but everyone forgot about it two minutes later after an atomic bomb exploded in the form of a trade between the Montreal Canadiens and the Nashville Predators.

The Canadiens dealt their superstar defenseman P.K. Subban to the Predators for their superstar defenseman, Shea Weber. That’s like trading Mike Trout for Bryce Harper.

While all of us were still trying to comprehend the chaos around us, years worth of Steven Stamkos speculation came to a sudden end when he signed a contract extension with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He won’t go to Toronto, or Detroit, or anywhere. Wow.

The outlook of several NHL franchises changed today, all within the span of 15 minutes. You don’t see that everyday.

On Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks traded forwards Teuvo Teravainen and Bryan Bickell to the Carolina Hurricanes for a second round draft pick in 2016 and a third round draft pick in 2017.

The Blackhawks made it their mission this offseason to get rid of Bickell’s massive $4 million cap hit, and they accomplished that mission early, but at the expense of losing one of their best up and coming players. Teuvo was thought to be a future cornerstone of the franchise, but now joins Brandon Saad as a young Blackhawk player getting traded out of town because of Bickell’s contract.

This trade may hurt a lot of Blackhawks fans, but finally Bickell’s contract will no longer affect the Hawks. Now the Hawks are likely to resign restricted free agent Andrew Shaw. Let’s just hope his contract situation doesn’t end the way Bickell’s did.

I meant to blog this before the series started, but I completely forgot. *Insert shoulder shrug figure here*

Anyway, the Pittsburgh Penguins currently have a 2-0 series lead going into Game 3 tomorrow night. Here’s my preview for the rest of the series.

Stanley Cup Final: San Jose Sharks vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

The HBK line of Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino, and Phil Kessel has powered the Penguins all throughout the playoffs and continue to do so in the Cup Final. The Penguins have also been getting help from unlikely heroes in Bryan Rust and Connor Sheary, and Sidney Crosby continues to look like the best player in the world. If the Sharks have any chance to beat the Pens, they need to regroup and play the sound team game they’ve been playing all postseason. They also need more help from goaltender Martin Jones, who has looked below average so far this series. They also need help from their superstars Brent Burns, Joe Thorton, Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau, and Logan Couture.

My Prediction: Sharks Win Series in 7 Games

Earlier today, before Game 5 of their Eastern Conference Final series against the Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan announced defenseman Trevor Daley will miss the rest of the postseason with a broken ankle. Daley sustained the injury during the Penguins Game 4 loss to the Lightning on Friday.

Daley, a 32 year old left shoot defenseman, was an important part of the Penguins blue line. He began the season with the Chicago Blackhawks, where he scored no goals and six assists in 29 games. Unhappy with his role in Chicago, Daley requested a trade, which he got on December 14th when he was dealt to Pittsburgh in exchange for Rob Scuderi. Daley took off in Pittsburgh, scoring 22 points in 53 regular season games for the Penguins. In the playoffs, Daley scored one goal and five assists in 15 games for the Penguins.

I know this is late, but here is my preview for the Conference Finals round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Western Conference Finals: San Jose Sharks vs. St. Louis Blues

Last night, the Blues won game one of this series 2-1. The Blues have looked good all postseason, and goaltender Brian Elliot has been spectacular all playoffs long and continued that trend last night. Captain David Backes continues to lead the team forward by scoring timely goals, and rookies Robbie Fabbri and Colton Parayko have had an immediate impact at the NHL level.

The Sharks played well last night, but just couldn’t beat Elliot. They’ll have to find a solution to that problem and a way to contain Blues superstar Vladimir Tarasenko and offseason acquisition Troy Brouwer, whose having a memorable playoffs. Sharks goaltender Martin Jones has been good all playoffs, but can’t let in cheap goals like he did last night. Joe Pavelski, Joe Thorton, and Logan Couture have carried the Sharks all postseason, and Brent Burns has been a rock on the blue line and has chipped in offensively. These trends will have to continue for the Sharks to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

My Prediction: Sharks win in 7 games

Eastern Conference Finals: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

On Friday, the Lightning won game one of this series 3-1 in Pittsburgh despite injuries to goaltender Ben Bishop and Tyler Johnson. Johnson seems ok, but Bishop’s status is uncertain. His status, along with the status of Lightning superstar forward Steven Stamkos, will have a big impact on the rest of this series.

Coming off an emotional series win against the Presidents Trophy winning Washington Capitals last round, the Penguins just couldn’t get anything going against the Lightning in game one. Rookie goaltender Matt Murray looked human once again in game one, and will need a big bounce back game tonight to avoid putting his team in a 2-0 series deficit going to Tampa. He’ll need help from the players in front of him, especially the superstars. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin combined for only four points the entire series against Washington, and will need to get going in order to advance.

My Prediction: Penguins win in 6 games

Jaromir Jagr has signed a one year, $4 million contract with the Florida Panthers. Next season will be Jagr’s 24th season in the NHL.

Last season, 44-year-old Jagr scored 66 points in 79 regular season games and two points in six playoff games with the Panthers. Jagr has scored a total of 1,868 points in 1,629 career regular season games and a total of 201 total points in 208 career postseason games.

A major trade just happened in the world of football. No players were involved, but it could have a massive impact on the future of the two teams involved.

The Philadelphia Eagles have acquired the number 2 overall pick in next weekend’s NFL Draft and a 2017 4th round draft pick in exchange for picks in the first, third, and fourth rounds in 2016, a 2017 first round pick, and a 2018 second round pick. The Eagles are in need of a quarterback, and are expected to take either Carson Wentz or Jared Goff with the second overall pick.