Kane now 22, but he's still a kid

CALGARY, Alberta -- Patrick Kane a veteran? Well, sort of.

Kane turned 22 years old on Friday and is now in his fourth season with the Blackhawks. He has won a Stanley Cup, been rookie of the year, won a silver medal at the Olympics and played in the All-Star Game.

Yet teammate Patrick Sharp still sees the kid in Kane.

“He's still coloring on his stick, so that tells me he's still a young kid,” Sharp joked Friday. “But he doesn't wear his Abercrombie & Fitch shirts to the rink anymore. He actually wears dress shirts and ties.”

Kane is growing up on and off the ice. He has put some off-ice issues in his past and has tried to take more of a leadership role in the dressing room.

“Kaner, I think he's one of those kids that every day you learn you get smarter and adapt on and off the ice,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “There's a lot of upside in his game. I think he's making steady progress, but he still has that kid in him too.

“We have talks, but I still think he gets a lot of influences from his peers.”

It's still easy to think of Kane as the 18-year-old kid drafted first overall who came to Chicago and helped ignite the team's dramatic turnaround.

“I've been dreading these questions from you guys saying my career is going fast here,” Kane said jokingly. “I came in at 18, turned 19 my first year and now I'm 22. Four years, I guess you can call yourself a veteran now, but I'm still one of the youngest guys on the team, if not the youngest.”

Kane is still the youngest Hawk, six months younger than Jonathan Toews, and like Sharp said, it shows sometimes.

“It was pretty funny, last night it was 10:01 (in Calgary), and my mom was already wishing me a happy birthday,” Kane said. “She wanted to be the first one.”