No. 88 is coming back to where it all started.
Patrick Kane is returning to Chicago on a two-year deal worth $8 million annually. After he was dealt to the New York Rangers more than three years ago and spent three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, Kane comes back to the franchise that selected him No. 1 overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.
Kane, 37, rejoins an organization that looks almost nothing like it did when he was traded on Feb. 28, 2023: a new coaching staff and only three players who shared the ice with Kane throughout his 15.5 seasons in Chicago (Teuvo Teravainen, Arvid Soderblom and Alex Vlasic).
It’s still the same fanbase, however, that witnessed the glory of “Showtime” and his rise to superstardom in the league, winning three Stanley Cups in a six-season span. They’ll remember his Stanley Cup-clinching goal in overtime against the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010, his double-overtime winner to send the Blackhawks to the Cup Final in 2013 and countless other moments of joy he provided.
In a statement released on Thursday, general manager Kyle Davidson said: “We couldn’t be prouder for Patrick to once again call the United Center home and continue to shine in Chicago’s brightest lights.”
Kane ranks second in points (1,225) and assists (779) and third in games played (1,161) and goals (446) in a Blackhawks sweater, trailing hockey legend Stan Mikita in each category. He won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2008 and the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs in 2013.
In 2016, Kane earned the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s regular season MVP, becoming the first Blackhawks player to do so since Mikita did it in 1969. Kane is still the Blackhawks’ most recent winner of the award.
The CHGO staff reacts …
Adam Jahns
This is more than a nostalgic move. It’s part of the rebuild — or the retooling of the Hawks roster. Winning requires a good mix of youth and experience. The 2010 Hawks had John Madden and Brent Sopel. The 2013 team had Jamal Mayers, Michal Handzus and Michal Rozsival. Kane can still play. He had 57 points in 67 games last season for the Red Wings. He’ll bring instant energy on and off the ice. The organization needs it.
Patrick Norton
This is the type of move Blackhawks fans have dreamt of since the organization dealt Kane and didn’t re-sign Jonathan Toews following the 2023 season. Without trading Kane, however, the Blackhawks likely wouldn’t have had the necessary odds to get lucky in the 2023 draft lottery that brought them Connor Bedard. And without Bedard, the possibility of a Kane comeback in 2026 is hard to fathom.
Kane isn’t the high-powered winger he once was, nor is he the target most had atop their wishlists at the start of the offseason, but he’s still an improvement to what the Blackhawks had. His 57 points with the Red Wings last season would’ve ranked third on the Blackhawks behind Bedard (75) and Tyler Bertuzzi (58).
He’s also the perfect mentor to pair with Bedard, as somebody who’s captivated Chicago in the past and knows what it takes to win in the city.
Bedard won’t take the ice alongside Kane for the first month of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery following a training injury he sustained earlier in July. He was, however, hopeful the opportunity would come to fruition after signing his own five-year extension with the Blackhawks on Saturday.
“We’d all be so excited to have a player like that,” he told reporters on Monday. “That would be incredible to get to play with him and learn from him. Hopefully he decides to come back. It would make us a way better team.”
Mario Tirabassi
This was a return I never actually thought would happen. For the past few years, every summer and every trade deadline, the topic of bringing Patrick Kane back to the Blackhawks has come up, and every time it felt like there was really no use in entertaining the idea because the organization and Kyle Davidson had shot it down. It’s not that I wouldn’t have been happy with it — I would have, and I am — it just never felt realistic.
Then Chris Chelios hit the airwaves on WSCR and said Kane’s decision was between Buffalo and Chicago, and that the information was coming from Kane himself.
From that point on, there was no way he couldn’t come back. Offer on the table, decision in his hands. Now he’s back.
The two-year deal feels like an opportunity to do what his good friends Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith didn’t get to do: Go out as a Blackhawks. The $8 million per year? Who cares. The Blackhawks have more than enough money to spare, and besides, it’s Patrick Kane.
Sure, he’s not the guy he was on the Cup teams, or as league MVP. But the expectation for him over these two years is to be a threat on the power play and take some of the offensive heat off Connor Bedard and the glut of young forwards. If he gives you 20 goals and 50 points, you’re happy.
At the end of the day, this feels right. Is it nostalgia bait? Maybe. But there is no denying that Patrick Kane being a Blackhawk makes the team better and makes the fans happy.
