The Chicago Blackhawks lost Patrick Kane in their most recent game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. They lost the game and their leading scorer on the same night that he was shockingly not named to be their All-Star.
After the game, it was announced that he had a lower-body injury but it was mostly precautionary. You have to wonder if they are being extra cautious so that he doesn’t further hurt himself with the trade deadline under two months away.
Kane is in the final year of his lucrative contract that he received along with Jonathan Toews after winning their third Stanley Cup together in 2015. It will be interesting to see how his future shakes out with this contract coming to an end. He could be wearing different colors really soon.
As for the team, the show must go on. They played an equally as desperate Arizona Coyotes team who are right there with the Hawks near the bottom of the standings.
The Chicago Blackhawks earned a big Friday night win without Patrick Kane.
It is a good idea to lose as many games as possible this season because of the potential impact that Connor Bedard will make on a team but it is also nice to just get a win every now and again. The Hawks did that without Patrick Kane on Friday night.
Jake McCabe put the Hawks up 1-0 over Arizona which was good to see because his trade value climbs as well. The Hawks should be looking to trade all of these guys and seeing them play well will certainly make it easier to do so.
Tyler Johnson scored one into the empty net to make it 2-0 which sealed the fate for the Arizona Coyotes on this night. The win didn’t take the Blackhawks out of dead last (which is a good thing) but it did bring them to within two points of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The good news is that the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks went to overtime so each team gained a standings point. The Ducks won in overtime so they didn’t gain any lottery ground on Chicago.
Winning without Patrick Kane is going to be their new reality soon and that is what it looks like. He will be back soon which will be fun to watch while it lasts but the future needs to be the most important thing for this team right now. It was definitely a fun Friday night at the UC.