{"id":409095,"date":"2026-01-14T17:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T17:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/409095\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T17:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T17:27:09","slug":"american-nhlers-reflect-with-patrick-kane-on-the-brink-of-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/409095\/","title":{"rendered":"American NHLers reflect with Patrick Kane on the brink of history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jack Hughes<\/a> looked around the room. <\/p>\n

USA Hockey was holding a summer orientation session for the country\u2019s NHL stars ahead of the league\u2019s Olympic return. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s 44 guys there,\u201d Hughes, a centre for the New Jersey Devils<\/a>, recalled of that late-August gathering. \u201cAnd probably like 35 of them, their favourite player growing up was Patrick Kane<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

The three-time Stanley Cup winner and veteran of the 2010 and 2014 Games \u2014 always a long-shot for the 2026 event at age 37 \u2014 was present for those meetings, but didn\u2019t make the final cut when the American roster was announced. <\/p>\n

Kane\u2019s influence still will be on full display when the U.S. hits the ice in Italy next month. <\/p>\n

\u201cSpecial career,\u201d said Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> centre Jack Eichel<\/a>, set to make his Olympic debut at the Milan Cortina Games with the NHL back for the first time in 12 years. \u201cWhen you think of USA Hockey, he\u2019s one of the first players that comes to mind, if not the first.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hughes, also poised to play at the Games for the first time, said Kane\u2019s quick hands, flash and flair for the dramatic left a mark on a generation of Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s maybe got the best highlight reel of all time,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cAs a kid, you watch all of his videos, and you\u2019re like, \u2018That\u2019s the guy you want to be.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s \u2018Showtime\u2019 \u2026 definitely changed the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kane is also on the verge of sitting atop his nation\u2019s all-time scoring list. <\/p>\n

The Buffalo native reached 500 goals \u2014 the fifth American to touch the mark \u2014 last week and is just four points shy of passing Mike Modano<\/a>\u2019s record of 1,374 for a U.S.-born player. <\/p>\n

Now a winger for the Detroit Red Wings<\/a> after a stint with the New York Rangers<\/a>, Kane was a key part of the Chicago Blackhawks<\/a>\u2019 dynasty that hoisted the Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015. The No. 1 pick at the 2007 draft also helped the U.S. win silver at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the want to always make a play and to do it was pretty special,\u201d Minnesota Wild<\/a> forward Matt Boldy<\/a> said. \u201cYou don\u2019t see it in a lot of guys. He was just always a guy that had the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red Wings linemate Alex DeBrincat<\/a> cheered for Detroit growing up in Michigan, but respected what Kane \u2014 the 2013 Conn Smythe winner as playoff MVP \u2014 brought every night. Now he gets to see it up close on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cFun as it was the first day we got put together,\u201d DeBrincat said of the 2015-16 Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay<\/a> Award winner. \u201cThe stuff he does is still incredible. I\u2019ve learned so much, from the way he plays the game to how he treats his body.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boston Bruins<\/a> defenceman Charlie McAvoy<\/a> idolized Kane, the Calder Trophy winner as NHL rookie of the year in 2007-08 and the league\u2019s leading scorer in 2015-16, before getting to play against him in the NHL and with him for the U.S. at the 2018 world championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn incredible \u2026 everything,\u201d McAvoy said. \u201cAs a kid watching Chicago when they were going on a run, you\u2019re watching him do stuff that just, at the time, people didn\u2019t do. He laid the foundation for the shiftiness in the hands of so many guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buffalo Sabres<\/a> centre Tage Thompson<\/a> said Kane\u2019s ability to drive play from the wing with a smaller frame shifted views and deployment within hockey.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsed to copy him, his gear, his celly, just such an iconic player,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cIt was not normal for a smaller guy to make such an impact offensively. He broke through and, I think, changed that for a lot of kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

And also set a new standard south of the border.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn absolute legend,\u201d McAvoy said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s great that he\u2019s an American.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIGURING IT OUT<\/p>\n

The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> were in big trouble. Among a list of Cup contenders in training camp, they woke up Dec. 22 last in the Eastern Conference with a paltry 35 points from 35 games. <\/p>\n

The under-fire club axed assistant coach Marc Savard<\/a> \u2014 in charge of an inexplicably porous power play \u2014 later that day and then surged up the standings and into a playoff spot thanks to an 8-0-2 run that ended with Tuesday\u2019s 6-1 road loss to the Utah Mammoth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It would be unfair to pin the Savard\u2019s man-advantage units as Toronto\u2019s only issue at the time of his dismissal, but a group that sat last overall (13.3 per cent) in the entire NHL under his watch this season now ranks eighth (28 per cent) in 11 games under new hire Steve Sullivan<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 14, 2026.<\/p>\n

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jack Hughes looked around the room. USA Hockey was holding a summer orientation session for the country\u2019s NHL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-409095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}