Chicago Blackhawks Rumor: Is Patrick Kane returning sooner than expected?
By Frank Walker
Is Patrick Kane returning sooner than expected? Over the last few days Chicago Blackhawks’ fans have gone through a roller coaster of emotions over the expected return of Patrick Kane. After suffering a broken collarbone on February 24th against the Florida Panthers the expectation was that he would be out of the line-up for twelve weeks.
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On March 30th CSN Chicago’s Tracey Myers reported that head coach Joel Quenneville said in regards to Kane, “There has been good progress. It could be good news. We’ll see.” These three sentences put the Blackhawks fanbase into a frenzy. Fans started to think of how well a Blackhawks team with the depth of both Kane, and his replacment Antoinne Vermette could perform in the playoffs.
Then the frenzy reached a fevered pitch when Patrick Kane appeared on the ice today for practice with his teammates.
Patrick Kane wearing the "don't-touch-me" jersey. Nevertheless, practicing with the #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/m7b9Yq43Sf
— Tracey Myers (@Tramyers_NHL) April 1, 2015
The excitement was tempered though by the news after practice. Kane said afterwards (per the Chicago Tribune):
"It’s one of those things you wish you could be out there tomorrow with the guys and start playing right away, but it’s not realistic — it’s not possible,” Kane said. “You’ll drive yourself crazy if you start thinking of certain dates when you can come back. I think the only thing I can really control is trying to heal as fast as I can, trying to get myself in the best shape possible and if it’s seven weeks, great, if it’s five weeks, great, if it’s six weeks, great. Who knows what it’s going to be in the end? I still think the timetable is at the 12-week mark. I think we’re at five weeks (Wednesday). That puts us at seven. Kind of wait and see from there.”"
That would put Kane’s return on May 20th. From my estimation that would bring him back in the Conference Championship round. If I were a fan of the Chicago Blackhawks I would have no problem trying to rush Kane back from this injury. If it were some type of muscle injury or tear it would be a different situation, but bones breaks do not lead to recurring injuries.
From Kane’s perspective this should be understandable. It isn’t a head injury that is hard to grasp if it is fully healed. The worst case for him is that he breaks it again and then has to sit out twelve weeks of the off season. Add to this that Chicago has already handed him the eight year deal making him one of the top paid players in the league. Kane has few reasons to object to going in if his team needs him.
If the Blackhawks find themselves in a tough series against the Wild, Blues, or any of the other teams that have a legitimate shot at taking them down I wouldn’t hesitate to get Kane back into the lineup.