Kane still dealing with nagging injury
When the Blackhawks closed out their 2020-21 campaign, Patrick Kane told the media he had been dealing with "one little issue" for almost a year.
Well, as the 2021-22 season got underway with the first training camp practice Thursday at Fifth Third Arena, Kane said the nagging injury hasn't completely gone away.
Once again, the Hawks' star wouldn't go into specifics.
"It's something that happens as you play hockey and I've been playing hockey since I've been six, seven years old," Kane said. "It's just something that comes up. Throughout the summer you have your worries and whatnot. It's something that's not completely healed, but I'm optimistic with where I'm going and happy after today's skate."
Kane had 15 goals and 51 assists in 56 games last season, but 11 of those goals came in the first 23 games. He did not score in the last 11 contests (although he did have 10 assists).
It will be interesting to see if Kane, who has missed just one game in the last six seasons, takes more maintenance days to try and stay fresh.
Surgery might be an option, but GM Stan Bowman said sometimes players don't want to take the risk that a procedure could make things worse.
"(Sometimes players) want to try to wait until their career's over before they have a surgery because you don't know how that will go," Bowman said. "Certainly that's unavoidable at times where you need a surgery, but that's not the case with Patrick.
"He's been working through it. Like he said, it's not something that he's that concerned about. It's just there."
Classy gesture:
Patrick Kane opened his news conference by former Hawks forward and WGN radio analyst Troy Murray know how much he's missed. Murray, who is battling cancer, was not at the opening day of camp.
"Obviously we're missing one important guy in Troy Murray, so I just want to say I'm thinking about you Troy and hope to see you back soon," Kane said.
Slap shots:
Stan Bowman said all of the Hawks players are vaccinated against the coronavirus. ... Bowman said he'd be "very surprised" if 19-year-old forward Lukas Reichel doesn't play some games for the Hawks this season. Reichel was the 17th overall pick in the 2020 draft. He's scored 22 goals in 80 games the past two seasons while playing in Germany's top pro league. ... The top two lines during the first day of training camp had Jonathan Toews centering Dominik Kubalik and Brandon Hagel, and Tyler Johnson centering Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane. ... Alex Nylander, who did not play last season, did not skate with the top players.