So the news is not all bad for Bulls fans. At least you got to watch Benny the Bull spill popcorn on unsuspecting adults and Matas Buzelis dunks. And now you\u2019ll get to watch Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Nikola Vu\u010devi\u0107 try to enjoy some postseason success with their new teams.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, you can root for ping-pong balls to fall the right way, for President\/CEO Michael Reinsdorf and senior adviser John Paxson to pick the right top executive and for Billy Donovan to stick around<\/a>. No one said it was going to be easy.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day is not going to be sunshine,\u201d Collin Sexton warned us in February after his first game as a Bull. \u201cSome days it\u2019s going to be a little storm, a little thunder.\u201d<\/p>\n That was before the end of an 11-game losing streak and Jaden Ivey\u2019s social media proselytizing that led to his unceremonious departure<\/a>, and the firings of Karni\u0161ovas and general manager Marc Eversley and Reinsdorf\u2019s admission on Zoom<\/a> that the Bulls brass had a long history of being poor communicators, and if the next executive \u201cis not communicating \u2026 that\u2019s something we don\u2019t stand for anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n It was as chaotic an ending as imaginable. Will there be less thunder and more sunshine under the new regime, or just new names and faces with the same problems?<\/p>\n The Blackhawks ending was less dramatic, with more pomp and ceremony due to their 100th anniversary but the same caliber of losing. They melted along with the United Center ice after Wednesday\u2019s 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks in the season finale, finishing 29-39-14 (72 points) \u2014 the second-worst record in the NHL.<\/p>\n That cliched no worse than a No. 4 pick, and the Hawks will have a 25.5% chance at picking first, 14.1% at second, 30.7% at third and 41.7% at fourth. Memorize these numbers for a possible pop quiz at the end of this column.<\/p>\n It was a marginally better performance for the Hawks than last year, when they finished with 61 points, got the No. 3 pick and chose forward Anton Frondell<\/a> as the first of three first-round selections<\/a>.<\/p>\n Few expected the Hawks to get into the playoffs under first-year coach Jeff Blashill<\/a>, but many expected them to be significantly better by Year 3 of the Connor Bedard era. A season of around .500 probably would\u2019ve been enough to generate offseason optimism, but at least the losing ensures more top picks for the future, and that\u2019s what\u2019s considered progress for Chairman Danny Wirtz.<\/p>\n Remember, the Hawks lucked into Bedard in 2023, when they had only 11.5% odds of getting the top pick, far behind Anaheim\u2019s 25.5% chance and slightly behind Columbus\u2019 13.5% chance. When the Hawks beat the odds for the right to choose Bedard as the designated savior, general manager Kyle Davidson predicted \u201cit can change a franchise, it can change a city and it can change an era in a team\u2019s history. There\u2019s a lot of weight to that and a lot of significance to that.\u201d<\/p>\n Hawks fans bought into the narrative, and Bedard has done his part, evolving into the kind of star the organization needed \u2014 confident yet humble and always putting the team first. But Davidson\u2019s rebuild has been a slog, with three coaches and not even a whiff of competing for a playoff spot. Nevertheless, the Hawks<\/p>\n The Ducks, despite finishing poorly this season, still managed to clinch a wild-card spot Monday and will make their first playoff appearance since 2018. In other words, you can rebuild through the draft and surround the kids with enough talent to win.<\/p>\n The brutal ending to the Hawks season<\/a> since trading captain Nick Foligno<\/a> to Minnesota on March 6 for \u201cfuture considerations\u201d can\u2019t be ignored. They went into the season finale with only five wins in 20 games since that night. And after Sunday\u2019s loss to the St. Louis Blues, NHL.com\u2019s Bruce Miles wrote<\/a> that Blashill questioned the team\u2019s toughness down the stretch.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say there\u2019s probably a fragility to our team right now, more than even fatigue,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cI think some guys are starting to really probably struggle a little bit. The issue with where we\u2019re at is we don\u2019t have guys to lean on to pick you up a little bit when you\u2019re struggling.<\/p>\n![\"Bulls](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/CTC-L-BULLS-MAGIC.jpg\")
Bulls coach Billy Donovan exits after a 127-103 loss to the Magic on April 10, 2026, at the United Center. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/CTC-L-blackhawks-sharks001_e37a3b.jpg\")
Blackhawks fan Pete Danakis cheers as the team takes the ice for warmups for a game against the Sharks on April 15, 2026, at the United Center. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n