Ready for Patty cake on Monday
About to turn 30, Kane says he has a lot of hockey left
Patrick Kane has been the NHL’s rookie of the year, its most valuable player, its scoring champion and its No. 1 star of the postseason. He has won an Olympic medal and, of course, hoisted the Stanley Cup three times.
Arguably the most accomplished player in Blackhawks history, Kane has played his way into the top five on the team’s all-time lists in goals, assists and points.
But there’s one thing he has yet to do:
Turn 30. That’ll happen Monday.
“It’s pretty crazy how time flies,” he said. “But I think 30 is still fairly young, especially in today’s game. You see a lot of players in today’s game play into their 40s, as well, so just try to maintain what I’ve got going right now and keep it going as long as I can. But I still feel fairly young . . . . I still feel like I’ve got a lot of hockey left.”
Stan Mikita ran out of games with the Hawks at 39, which happens to be the age of Kane’s teammate Chris Kunitz. Kimmo Timonen was 40 — in the final chapter of a 20-year career — when he got to raise the Cup with the Hawks in 2015.
Bobby Hull and Chris Chelios basically played forever, though each rang in 40 with a different team.
So what’ll it be with Kane? How long will his haul with the Hawks and, thinking more broadly, as an NHL player be? He’s on track to turn 40 in his 22nd NHL season, for what it’s worth. Easy for us to say, but he could reach half his No. 88 in age in season No. — ahem — 26.
Hey, why not entertain ourselves a bit with pleasant thoughts like these? Given the reality of the Hawks’ season — they’ve lost nine of their last 10 games, in case you’ve lost track — the only other things to do are sulk and stew.
“I think now, especially where I’m at in my life, it’s like I’m just really enjoying playing hockey and I’m really enjoying trying to make the best of my game, be the best player I can be, so that’s kind of where my focus is,” he said. “I know later in life there are some other things that come into play, whether it’s family or kids or different things like that, but if you have the motivation and dedication to take care of your body, it seems like it really pays off for you.”
Kane says there are days when he rolls out of bed or pulls off the practice gear and feels better physically than he did in his early 20s. It’s an encouraging thought for a player whose contract with the Hawks runs through the 202223 season, as is the case with running mate Jonathan Toews.
Kane will be 35 — a spring chicken — when the time comes to move forward with the Hawks or move along to someplace else.
That’s assuming he isn’t traded before then, of course.
Kane and Toews have no-trade clauses in their contracts, but who knows what could happen if the word “rebuild” ever ceases to be unutterable in organization circles?
“We all want to win right now,” Kane said. “So that’s where we’re at.”
Where he’s at is the doorstep of 30, a nice — if relatively meaningless — milestone. The way Kane plays, emphasizing finesse and self-preservation, 30 is, what, the new 28?
“It’s not like I’m running guys over all the time or getting run over, things like that — knock on wood,” he said. “I’ll probably get blown up tomorrow or something now. No, I think I should be able to do it for a long time.”