Blackhawks' Kane has room for growth

Patrick Kane is not in London anymore.

The Blackhawks' rookie right wing and the first player taken in last June's NHL draft got an immediate reminder that his junior hockey days with the London Knights were behind him during informal scrimmages with his new teammates this week.

Kane watched Hawks star Martin Havlat fly down the ice, make a move to the net and put the puck top shelf in a way only a handful of players could.

"On the bench he turns to me and says, 'I'm Martin, by the way,' " said Kane with a laugh. "I said, 'Yeah, I know who you are.' "

Whether the 18-year-old Kane becomes a dynamic offensive force like Havlat will be played out over time. The Hawks' plan for now is to put Kane and center Jonathan Toews, their two prized rookies, in the best possible learning situations during training camp.

So when Kane reported to the team hotel Wednesday night he learned his roommate for the duration of camp would be veteran Kevyn Adams.

The 19-year-old Toews was assigned Martin Lapointe, considered the wise leader of the team.

"If I can pick up a few things from him, I'll be off to a good start," Toews said.

General manager Dale Tallon said those rooming assignments didn't happen by accident.

"We want them to show them the way," Tallon said. "This is a long grind for a 19- or 20-year old -- eating properly, maintaining their weight, maintaining their rest and just acting and being professionals.

"We're counting on (Toews and Kane) a lot. They're good players. They're going to have some growing pains, obviously, but they're going to get every opportunity to play. As I've said before, we're in this for the long haul and they're going to be the cornerstones of our franchise, and we've got to be careful how we handle them."

Adams, acquired during the off-season from Phoenix for Radim Vrbata, won a Stanley Cup with Carolina and is considered as good a leader as there is in the league. He knows what he is being asked to do with Kane as well as with Toews.

"Maybe I can show them around a bit," Adams said. "But not on the ice because those guys know what they're doing."

Kane called it "pretty cool" to finally be at camp, and he reported at 170 pounds, which is up 7 pounds from prospects camp in July. He was only too happy to discover Adams as his roommate since they are both from Buffalo.

"It's funny, last night me and Akim Aliu were in the room just drilling him with questions about the NHL and what everything is like," Kane said. "He gave us some good information and stuff we could look forward to.

"He said as time goes on you're really going to fall in love with the game and that you worked so hard to get here your whole life, so you might as well take advantage of the opportunity."

Kane, Toews and several other rookies went to dinner Wednesday with Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith, two more veterans expected to take over the team in terms of their leadership.

"They showed us around downtown a bit," Kane said. "It's a big city with a lot of traffic -- that's what I've noticed so far."

Kane and Toews will get their first true taste of NHL competition today when the on-ice drills commence at the United Center.

"Obviously there's been a bit of anxiety, not knowing what to expect, but now that I've been here for a few days and got to meet the guys, I've kind of reached a comfort level," Toews said. "Now all I've got to do is go out and focus on my job and play my own game."