Kyle Davidson's Perfect Game, and The Fire Are At It Again

We've got game thoughts for the first time! Or at least the first time in like five years. And we've got the local 11...well, the other local 11...no, the OTHER local 11, making moves. Let's get down and dirty.

Sector 1901 - Kyle Davidson's Dream Game

He'll never admit it publicly, but when Hawks GM Kyle Davidson talks about the Hawks being more competitive, this is what he meant. Good enough to not get embarrassed for 60 minutes, at least not as often, but still lose to keep draft position. The Hawks executed it perfectly last night.

How competitive the Hawks were is in the eye of the beholder, as they were completely run out of the building in the first 20 minutes but got it together once down 3-0. This Utah team isn't going to be a lockdown outfit, at least not until they get John Marino back, and even then it'll be dicey. A team depending on Mikhail Sergachev to be a #1 blue-liner is a team dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight, as Connor Bedard proved quite clearly.

Anyway, we've got bullets!

• You'd think with all that veteran leadership the Hawks would have been aware that Utah would come out for their first ever game as if cayenne pepper was applied to their scrotum, and yet the Hawks still were caught cold. They were three steps slow to everything, and all the pressure points we worried about were greatly exposed: TJ Brodie couldn't do anything, Ilya Mikheyev rendered Connor Bedard's line worthless, the Hawks had no controlled outs to escape their zone, the power play will become the subject of emo's great comeback in 2025.

But fair play to the Hawks for recovering, at least when the Utah Johnnies took their foot off the gas, and for Luke Richardson not waiting around on the things that weren't working. Mikheyev got booted off the top line, and at least Foligno can win the occasional board battle to get the puck to Bedard. The defensive pairings were shuffled.

• On the bad side of Richardson's ledger was the Hawks' inability to catch on to that faceoff play Utah ran repeatedly in the first half of the game, generating three or four chances. It would have helped if the Hawks could win any draw at that point (they somehow rallied to claim half the faceoffs for the game), but when Ray Ferraro is pointing things out before the coaches figure it out, it's a bad look.
• Speaking of Ferraro, can ESPN really not hire an additional analyst to keep him from having to cover two games in two cities on the same day? Is hiring two drivers and chartering a plane cheaper by that much? It's not like Ferraro is some hockey royalty that lends a gravitas to a game. I mean, he's not Hubie Brown.
• Foligno was all over the place. He did iron out Bedard's efforts, but he also caused a power play chance again when he attempted a curl-and-drag on the kill that he hasn't been capable of in at least five years and turned the puck over, leading to a rush the other way.
• That said, Bedard's Corsi-percentage with Foligno was 83.0 and with Mikheyev is was 24.8. It probably won't be long before Hall is on the opposite side of Teravainen, flanking Bedard for the same effect.
• Basically what we're saying is Mikheyev sucks deep pond scum.
• Kurashev's first game in the pivot would earn a pass-grade for sure, though mostly due to the space opening that Taylor Hall can do. But again, it's worth finding out if Kurashev can stick in the middle, as the Hawks simply don't have a nailed-on candidate for #2 and #3 centers down the road, instead of just settling for Kurashev being only a middling winger for Bedard.
• Metrically, Allan and Murphy were the Hawks best d-man, and this is where I wonder what the goals are this year. Allan looked capable, the wins still don't matter, so why couldn't he get more than nine minutes and more time in the 3rd? Let's find out what we have. What are we finding out watching Martinez and Brodie turn odd colors in the sun?
• For those curious, on this Utah team that has a lot of experts feeling their oats and saying they could compete for a playoff spot this year, none of the kids who matter spent more than a half-season in the AHL, aside from Sean Durzi, who is a reclamation project from LA.

Anyway, as an important influence used to say, onwards...

House of Beasley and Razov - The Fire Are At It Again

Honestly, I would have thought it would have taken way longer than just a couple weeks into this newsletter to get to the Fire. Since it stopped being part of my job I can't say I've given MLS much of a look, and the Fire even less so. They certainly haven't given anyone a reason to pay attention.

But we're getting to the part of the year they seem to be best at, which is getting themselves next to big names and big cash that eventually turns into more of the nothing that they've been producing for a decade. Is this time different?

For the uninitiated, the Fire are hiring Gregg Berhalter not only as their next manager but essentially their GM. It's also important to stress that whatever you thought of Berhalter's run as USMNT coach, it's best to put that all to the side when trying to judge what kind of manager he'll be for the Fire. It's a wildly different job with wildly different requirements, especially with the Director Of Football title attached to it, and thus his national team stint might have very little bearing on what happens at Soldier Field over the coming years, if any.

So let's start with the good. The biggest problem for the Fire of late is that their exiting GM, Georg Heitz and his missing "e," just wasn't familiar with MLS and what it takes to succeed there. There may have been high profile DP signings like Xherdan Shaqiri or Rafael Czichos or Gaston Gimenez or Hugo Cuypers, but little understanding of what it takes to build a team around those players or how those players might or might not succeed in a league that can get pretty weird at times. That won't be a problem with Berhalter.

And whatever you or I might think of him, Berhalter's name commands respect at this level. Certainly young players like Brian Gutierrez and others will snap to attention because they know Berhalter will show them the way to the national team. There's already buzz that the Fire may make a play for Weston McKennie, which is the the type of player Berhalter can sell Chicago on. That's not a nothing.

Berhalter has his strenghts, no matter what anyone says. He created an environment that the national team players loved, they loved him, and attracted a fair few amount of dual nationals to sign up. The fact that this was also probably his undoing eventually isn't as much of a concern, as that happens, especially at the national team level where the turnover and timeframes are just so different. Chicago hasn't been a happy place to play for a long while, and Berhalter probably changes that the moment he walks through the door.

Now the concerns. First, one can't help but notice that Berhalter was already living in Chicago and it's not a huge leap to think the Fire just hired some guy who was already here and has a name even casual soccer fans know. At least that's the thought from the cynical bunch like me, who's already watched the Hawks use the "Hey that guy's already standing there!" method.

Second, it's not like Columbus under Berhalter were a powerhouse. His first two seasons in Ohio were the best, when the Crew finished 2nd and 3rd with positive goal differences in the Eastern Conference. It's hard to get a full picture on these things from regular season record, given how the regular season in MLS can mean little, but it's what we've got. Roster rules also prevents a true monster from being built for years on end, especially even back then. But the best goal-difference the Crew managed under Berhalter was +10. Not exactly a juggernaut.

Thirdly, basically every MLS team has gotten away from the model of having one person be both manager and head of the front office, because they're both all-encompassing jobs. Now, maybe Berhalter and/or the Fire have someone that will eventually be brought on board that will share or assist in the front office, but Berhalter is still going to have the title. Maybe this is the only way someone with Berhalter's pedigree would take the job, and fair enough given the remedial-class ways the team has put forth for a long time now, but this is a huge task.

And finally, Berhalter could do a lot with the national team--and whether or not Matthew Killion likes it or not he did--just on vibes. This was a program on its knees, and simply coming in, turning it all over to the kids, and providing a positive and fun atmosphere was enough for a pretty big upswing.

Vibes work less well at the club game where they have to be doing the work week-in and week-out. That doesn't mean the vibes don't help, but a clear, detailed tactical plan and the ability to implement it are far more important. Those around Berhalter have always said that he's really good at this but had to eschew a lot of it given the limited time a manager gets with a national team, and the limited skill-set of his players on the USMNT, at least in comparison with others at that level. But his track record with both the Crew and USMNT doesn't suggest any kind of showtime is coming to the Lakefront.

All that said, it really doesn't take all that much to be even moderately successful in MLS. A team needs a #10 that can fuel an attack, be that a fully flushed-out Gutierrez or someone brought in. One finisher who gets hot, and that could be Cuypers. Lord knows Frank Klopas didn't have a clue how to generate a consistent attack. Take those two things and a defense that merely has to stay above water and you're basically a playoff team. The Fire could do all that by simply nailing the two Designated Player slots they'll have open during the offseason.

I don't ask much of the Fire, really. I just want a fun team to watch that makes it worth a trip or two down to Soldier Field. Berhalter can almost certainly provide that. For those Fire fans more attuned who want trophies...that's a touch more dicey.

Ain't It Fun?

Despite the image I put out there, I'd give just about anything to feel like this about baseball again. Some may connect that to the Mets $330M+ payroll only and jealousy of it, but that's only part of it.

It's Steve Cohen's ambition and transparency. The Mets basically told all their fans in the middle of last season that the Scherzer-and-Verlander thing didn't work, we're going to start over, 2024 might be rough, but don't worry we're coming back immediately. They won 89 games this season anyway as a surprise, but hadn't lost fans with some bullshit plan they could see through.

Meanwhile, the Cubs are transparent too, as long as you do just a little bit of decoding. When they say "sustainable" they mean safe and boring and cheap, even if they toed over the first tax threshold this season and treated it like they dipped a toe into a pool full of starving badgers. It means aiming for 85 wins and hoping that something unpredictable happens for one season instead of putting in a floor of being good for six or seven where something unpredictable turns them into a 100-win team.

There's no way any Cubs fan is going to feel like those Mets fans on that train doing something as silly as dancing with someone dressed like Grimace. And if they tell you they do, they're lying, because the team itself has told them they don't feel that way.

Please share in all the ways you can figure out. We're a big happy family and we're free for now!