I’ve had a couple conversations with folks on and off-line in recent days about Blackhawks superstar Patrick Kane missing the past two Blackhawks games because of an injury. It’s obviously an interesting issue at this time because many fans — especially outside Chicago — are staring at him near/at the top of every trade rumor wondering if/when he’ll be traded and at what cost.
A couple people (including play-by-play voice Chris Vosters) have noted that Kane is dealing with a hip issue right now that flared up when he got hit in the San Jose game on New Year’s Day. He lasted only two periods against Tampa and has been out of the lineup for the past two games (both wins with Lukas Reichel looking terrific, for what that’s worth).
But Monday’s edition of the “32 Thoughts” Podcast with Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek brought up the injury in the context of the looming conversation between Kane, his agent, and the Blackhawks’ front office, as well as how it might impact his immediate and future value to the organization.
And Friedman presented an intriguing scenario.
We mentioned this briefly on Saturday night in our [TV] segment. There has been a rumor that Pat Kane has been dealing with something, some kind of injury some sort of nagging injury, for some period of time. And at some point, he’s going to need a clean up… I’ve been thinking about this and this is my opinion — I am spitballing this — I wonder is if what happens here, this really effects him and he either can’t play or it noticeably impacts him, I wonder if the solution is Kane and the Blackhawks agree to a one-year extension, he shuts himself down, he goes and gets whatever procedure he needs and he comes back next year healthy and refreshed and we go through this again.
He goes on to point out the obvious: if he’s hurt and struggling, it’s bad for everyone — him, the Blackhawks trying to potentially move him, and a team that might want to acquire him.
Again, this is just a hypothetical scenario Friedman is throwing out there. And, as Marek notes, this would be Kane doing the Blackhawks a solid but wouldn’t be on-plan with what the Blackhawks wanted to do.
Marek also brought up that this hasn’t been a typical Kane season. He has just seven goals and 20 assists in 37 games this season. While some of his point production can be chalked up to the teammates he’s playing with (and them rotating frequently), but the thought that an issue is contributing to his struggles has been brought up elsewhere previously as well.
Both guys agree that there will be teams that, even if the injury is hindering him, will believe 75 percent of Kane is better than most other guys. But an ongoing issue could be detrimental to the value they’re willing to give up for Kane. And there has been talk in Chicago about an ongoing issue that Kane’s dealt with for the past couple seasons.
Friedman backs up to the point that he (and Marek agrees) wasn’t completely convinced that Kane or Jonathan Toews would ever ask out and that neither would ever wear another jersey. “I always saw them retiring as Blackhawks,” Marek added.
Friedman puts a bow on the conversation by saying the eight days off and treatment plan the Blackhawks are putting in place for Kane during the dog days of the season might do the trick and he might just need a week to get it back to feeling okay and his performance might be fine starting Thursday when the Avs visit the United Center.
Listen to the podcast here: