Kane excited to see what he can do
It has been a whirlwind two months for Patrick Kane ever since the Blackhawks made him the first pick in the NHL draft.
He has thrown out the first pitch before a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, been featured in national publications, and Wednesday was in New York to help the league recognize hockey in the U.S.
Kane, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., was featured as representing the future of U.S. Hockey at a gathering with American greats Mike Modano, Joe Mullen and Phil Housley.
"It's been pretty wild, but it's starting to calm down now," Kane said. "Throwing out the first pitch at the Cubs game and having 40,000 people give me a standing ovation was probably one of the highlights of my life. You could see what a great sports town Chicago is.
"I did get a chance in the summer to be a regular kid again, but now I'm focusing on coming to training camp and getting my career started."
Kane will be anything but a regular kid next Wednesday when the Hawks report for camp. A lot of eyes are going to be on the 18-year-old Kane to see if he is ready to make the jump from junior hockey to playing on one of the Hawks' top three lines.
"I know not many 18-year-olds play in the NHL, but I'm coming to do the best I can and we'll see how camp goes," Kane said. "They drafted me for my offense and if I play my game, I'm hopeful things will work out."
The Hawks plan to give Kane every opportunity and then some to make the club.
"I think we'll get 10 games and see how it goes," Hawks general manager Dale Tallon said Wednesday on a national conference call with reporters. "We're not going to ruin him. Obviously we want to take special care and make sure that he is ready and not put him in over his head so he can lose his confidence or get hurt."
Kane can play up to 10 regular-season games with the Hawks before losing junior eligibility.
"I think the kid is going to surprise a lot of people," Tallon said. "Put him with the right players, surround him with the right people and I think he can be successful right away."
Kane was 5-feet-10 and 160 pounds at the time of the draft and had a lot of people questioning his size. He's now up to about 170 pounds, he said.
"I've been working out five or six days a week," Kane said. "I'm looking forward to camp and not worrying what people say about my size."
Kane has always been small, said his father, Patrick Kane Sr., but it never stopped him from being the best player nearly everywhere he has skated.
"Everybody always picks on his size, even back when he was 7 years old," said the elder Kane. "But Pat has always put the puck in the net. When he was 10 years old and they started checking, people said Patrick Kane is not going to score anymore, but he did."
Just last week Kane returned to London where he was a junior scoring sensation and played in a preseason game for the Knights. All he did was score 5 goals in an 8-3 win.