Sometimes in the hockey world, a player gets to wrap up their career with the team they’ll forever be associated with – and that could be true for Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks.
Kane is currently a UFA looking for his next contract, and the Blackhawks need all the scoring help they can get, and Hawks superstar Connor Bedard would love little more than the opportunity to play alongside Kane before he enters the Hockey Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
When asked Monday about Kane, Bedard couldn’t stop himself from sounding giddy at the possibility of being a teammate with Kane.
“I hope so,” Bedard said when asked about Kane potentially joining the Hawks. “I don’t know what I could say to persuade his decision, but we'd all be so excited to have a player like that. That would be incredible to get to play with him and learn from him.
Hopefully he decides to come back. It would make us a way better team.”
Kane isn’t what he once was in his heyday, but he still produced 41 assists and 57 points in 67 games with the Detroit Red Wings this past season, and at age 37, he still has some good hockey left in him. Given that the Blackhawks have $14.3 million in salary cap space, they can certainly afford to give Kane a substantial payday.
The other options for Kane could be the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs. Kane is from the Western New York area, while he’s also spent a considerable amount of time training in Toronto. But while the Leafs would need to move money around to afford a $3-to-$5-million salary for Kane, the Sabres have $5.1 million in cap space.
So there may be a fit there.
However, the most romantic end to Kane’s career would be a return to Chicago. In limited minutes, Kane can still be a very effective offense-producer, and he's the face many associate with the Blackhawks. In 1,369 regular-season games, Kane has posted 508 goals and 1,400 points.
He can also mentor Bedard and the Hawks’ young players.
Kane doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone, but like all legendary players, he wants to go out on his own terms. And considering that NHLers are now playing into their forties, Kane could still be around for a few more years.
The Blackhawks have been missing the type of secondary scoring Kane can provide. And all it would cost Chicago GM Kyle Davidson is the cap space necessary to sign him. There’s no other asset the Hawks have to move out to bring in Kane, and that’s also a selling point on bringing him into the Windy City.
Kane undoubtedly wants to go to an organization that has a legitimate shot at winning a Stanley Cup next season. That’s not going to be who the Blackhawks are, so Kane has to make a tough decision – either he accepts a smaller salary to play for the Sabres or Maple Leafs, or he looks for the familiar comforts and larger salary Chicago has to offer.
Having a prominent role is probably what matters most to Kane. And he’d have that with the Blackhawks. Playing with a generational talent like Kane would be a dream come true for Bedard, and vice versa.
If Kane is going to retire in the next few years, retiring as a member of the Hawks would be a storybook ending for one of the game’s greatest players and one of the Blackhawks’ biggest icons.
No city appreciates Kane more than Chicago, and he’s now got the opportunity to write his final NHL chapters in a Hawks jersey. Time will tell whether he takes advantage of it.