Chicago Blackhawks: Patrick Kane’s junior career etched in history

Chicago Blackhawks star forward Patrick Kane had a terrific career in juniors even if it was short. The London Knights will honor him by raising his jersey.

When Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane’s number 88 joins the crowded rafters at Budweiser Gardens, home of London Knights, it will have a story to tell like no other. After competing for the USNTDP for two years, Kane decided to join the team that drafted him 88th overall in the 2004 OHL Draft.

If Junior hockey has a New York Yankees-esque team, it certainly belongs to the London Knights. The club has produced the most first-overall picks in the world. Since 2000, no other junior team has even come close to producing as many players selected in the NHL Draft.

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When Dale and Mark Hunter bought the team 19 years ago, they set a precedent for success that has slowly become the city’s expectation. In hindsight, London was the perfect place for that baby-faced kid to make a name for himself. But at the time, nobody could have predicted the 145-point masterpiece that was to come.

Though it would be several years before he would ever don the infamous nickname, signs would indicate that the berth of “Showtime” Kane originated during the time Kane spent on the London Knights.

When the pressure was high and when the lights were bright, and when the most eyes were glued to the screen, his ability to produce seemed to be at a premium.

In a league that was increasingly building itself on size and strength, Kane reminded us that speed, hockey IQ and god-given stick-handling skills were still traits to be admired in the game. In fact, the 5’10″ human highlight tape was re-defining what one human being could do with a stick and a puck. If he didn’t produce in giving the city of high-expectation what they wanted, a league title or a Memorial Cup, then he certainly put on a show along the way.

After a first-overall draft selection the following year, inability to meet expectation became a foreign term. In 12 years, Kane has won three Stanley Cups, a Conn Smythe, a Hart Trophy, and has been named to eight All-Star games. On paper, the 30-year-old has only gotten better up to this point in his career. The 110 points in the 2018-19 season was his highest-scoring campaign in the NHL.

His ability to block out the noise and proceed with his business-as-usual attitude, however, remained unchanged. In fact, Kane’s first and only Art Ross Trophy (as the league’s highest scorer) and league MVP title came that very year.

Whenever the stakes are the highest, whenever the public scrutiny is overwhelming, whenever Patrick Kane’s abilities on the ice should be affected, he finds a way to rise to the occasion time and time again.

In many ways, that one year he spent in London is very reflective of the legacy he’s made for himself in the NHL. Whether you hate him or love him, the allure of showtime and what he can do on the ice will draw you in, and for the split second that he’s dangling around an entire team, he’ll make you forget what it was you didn’t like about him.

On January 17th, when Kane’s 88 gets sent to the ceiling in London, it will take us back to the time he captivated an entire city. It will remind us of the times that baby-faced kid made us forget about League Championships and Memorial Cups.