There are plenty of reasons why Patrick Kane might choose to return to the Chicago Blackhawks this summer. There\u2019s nostalgia. There\u2019s the lure of home. There\u2019s the promise of a big, top-six role at this late stage of his career.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also Connor Bedard.<\/p>\n
The possibility of playing on a line with Bedard likely would be high on Kane\u2019s list. Bedard and Kane never overlapped and just missed playing together in Chicago. Kane was traded just a few months before the Blackhawks won the 2023 draft lottery and the right to draft Bedard. The two stars have expressed respect for each other\u2019s games over the years, but it never seemed like they\u2019d play together. That door appeared to be closed.<\/p>\n
But as Kane now weighs his options as an unrestricted free agent, the Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres are among the favorites to sign him. Just last week, Chris Chelios told \u201c670 The Score\u201d in Chicago that he had spoken with Kane, and that he was down to those two teams. That possibility has excited plenty of Blackhawks fans. Count Bedard among them.<\/p>\n
Patrick Kane homecoming in Chicago or Buffalo?<\/p>\n
Mark Lazerus and Shayna Goldman<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope so,\u201d Bedard said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what I can say to persuade his decision, but we\u2019d all obviously be so excited to have (not only) a player like that, but also a guy like that. I can\u2019t imagine his first game back at the (United Center), the reaction he\u2019d get and how much juice that would bring not only to our team but our fans as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bedard\u2019s potential impact goes far beyond ticket sales, too. Kane might not be the superstar he was during his heyday in Chicago, when he won a Hart Trophy, a Calder Trophy and three Stanley Cup titles. But he\u2019s still a productive player. Over three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, he had 163 points in 189 games. It\u2019s not hard to imagine those numbers getting a boost playing alongside a player such as Bedard, who has a creativity and dynamism that\u2019s reminiscent of Kane.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be incredible to get to play with him and learn from him,\u201d Bedard said. \u201cHopefully he decides to come back. You talk about the legacy aspect of it, but as a team, it would make us a way better team. He\u2019s still an amazing player. I don\u2019t know if this is the best pitch, but hopefully he comes back and we can play together, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kane, who turns 38 in November, and Bedard, who turned 21 last week, are in different places in their careers. Bedard recently signed his second NHL contract and agreed to a five-year deal with a $15 million annual average value. Kane is on the verge of his seventh NHL contract and potentially his last one. Kane is a favorite of many players around the league who grew up watching him, and Bedard is no different. Ahead of Kane\u2019s first game in Chicago as a visiting player back in Bedard\u2019s rookie season, Bedard said he had watched Kane\u2019s \u201cmixtapes\u201d online \u201cprobably 100 times.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear when Kane will decide. His agent, Pat Brisson, said Monday there was no timeline for a decision.<\/p>\n
Kane has made Chicago his offseason home for over the last decade and trains at the Blackhawk Ice Center during the summer. He even has his own stall in the Blackhawks dressing room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are plenty of reasons why Patrick Kane might choose to return to the Chicago Blackhawks this summer.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[741,49,48,756,742,448,82],"class_list":["post-815400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815400","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=815400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}