Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – What’s up with … on Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “What’s happening with Pat Kane?”
Friedman: “So Pat Kane didn’t play on Friday in the 2-0 win over Arizona and he didn’t play on Sunday. As we’re recording this, they’re going to play Calgary . And Luke Richardson said, look, we don’t play again until Thursday so it makes sense to give him more rest, and he’s going to have a treatment.
So we mentioned this briefly on Saturday night in our segment. There has been a rumor that Pat Kane is dealing with something. Some of kind of injury. Some kind of nagging injury for some period of time. And at some point, he going to need a clean-up. I don’t know exactly what the procedure would be, so I don’t want to go too much further into this, but the rumor is he would potentially need a cleanup.
So I’ve been thinking about this and this is my opinion. I am spitballing this. I wonder if what happens here, this really affects him and he either can’t play or 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.
Again, that’s my opinion. I’m looking at ways that this can work because to be perfectly honest, if he noticeably struggles cause he hurting, it’s bad for everyone. It’s bad for him. It’s bad for the Blackhawks and trying to move him. And it’s bad for another team that might be interested in him.
So I was thinking about this when I heard he wasn’t going to play. And again, he could get totally healthy and this could not be a problem. But if this is going to be an issue, I do wonder if the outcome is going to be a one-year extension for Kane in Chicago, and they go through this again next year. That’s my opinion.
Marek: “Let me sort of wheel around that thought. That would be Pat Kane doing a real solid for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Friedman: “I think it would also be the Blackhawks doing something that they probably weren’t planning on doing. But it benefits them too.”
Marek: “It really benefits them because ultimately, I mean listen, if Pat Kane, and again, we’re spitballing here, if Pat Kane gets shut down for the season, they can’t move him and Pat Kane can walk in the offseason nothing.
This way you sign him to the one-year deal with the knowledge you’re going to move him. And we’ve seen this before, more recently with John Klingberg in Anaheim. We all know why he was signed. And all of a sudden you’re doing something for that Blackhawks team.
That’s Patrick Kane doing a solid for the Chicago Blackhawks.”
Friedman: “I think the other thing too is that I’m still not 100 percent convinced that Kane and Toews ever envision themselves in another uniform.”
Marek: “I always saw them retiring as Hawks.”
Friedman: “I think we all did right? Again, it all depends on how healthy he is or isn’t and how he looks. But this might be something that it punts the ball down the line but it could solve everybody’s problems.”
Marek: “It would explain some of the play that we’ve seen out of Patrick Kane so far this season. Right? Like still, most teams will have, I’ll take Patrick Kane at 75 percent over a lot people at 100 percent. But this hasn’t been a quote, unquote Patrick Kane-type season, Elliotte, has it.”
Friedman: “No, it has not. And it would make sense. Again, this is something I’ve heard has been lingering for quite some time. And sometimes these things get better with rehab and sometimes you say we’re going to go that path first but eventually, you get to a point where you say, okay, we got to deal with it. And I think everybody is wondering here if we’re going to get to that point.”
** NHLRumors.com transcription