Hawks remain cautious with Kane

The question was posed to Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville toward the end of his morning news conference Sunday, after Patrick Kane participated in another skate at the United Center.

Is it possible Kane might make an appearance in the first round of the playoffs?

"It's tough to say," Quenneville said.

That's not a "no," and leaves open the possibility it could happen. If so, Kane's return would be roughly a month ahead of the initial 12-week recovery plan following Feb. 25 surgery.

But the Blackhawks have officially stuck with the three-month estimation, even after Kane began skating on his own and joined recent practices under restrictions against contact and slap shots.

Quenneville backpedaled a bit after his initial response Sunday, but stopped short of ruling Kane out of the first round.

"At the end, it's the same thing we've been saying," he said. "Medical clearance is the hurdle. From that, it kind of gives us an idea of when to ratchet up the physicality of it, to get the test. That's where it's at."

Pondering rest for vets:

The past couple of seasons, with a good idea of where they would finish, the Hawks gave a number of everyday players the final game off.

This year the race for the Central title could come down to the last game. Even so, Joel Quenneville said sitting out some veterans for a game is still an option he's mulling.

"We could," he said. "We'll see how that plays out. You get a chance to do something like that, in the past we've taken advantage of it. Tough to forecast that (this year)."

Still a center option:

Antoine Vermette was supposed to give the Hawks more depth down the middle, but he has played Kane's spot on the right wing of the second line the past five games.

"We'll probably get a chance to see him at center at some time," Joel Quenneville said.

Since coming to Chicago on March 1 in a deal with the Arizona Coyotes, Vermette hasn't scored a goal and has 3 assists in 15 games. His faceoff percentage is down about 6 points from the 56 percent he logged with the Coyotes.

"Work in progress," Quenneville said. "I think scoring a goal might help him be more confident with the puck."

Unchartered territory:

Joel Quenneville has 1,372 games to his credit as a head coach in the NHL, and even he's impressed by the way the race atop the Central Division is finishing up.

It's going to be a sprint to the finish in the final week of the regular season, and the three teams holding the top three spots - Nashville, St. Louis and the Hawks - all have a chance to win the division.

"That's pretty amazing," Quenneville said. "Usually some of these races are for playoff spots or for positioning, but it says a lot about our division, knowing that teams are all tied at the top.

"At the end of the day, we could have 90 points across the board [for every division team], which is pretty unusual."