Patrick Kane, arguably the face of the 21st-century Blackhawks, now feels like a genuine Red Wing.
The future Hall of Fame forward said as much Wednesday before helping the Wings beat the Hawks 4-1 in his second visit to Chicago as a member of the Hawks’ biggest historical rival.
“Getting traded from the Hawks to New York, and then having the [hip] surgery and rehabbing in Toronto, and then going to Detroit, it was a whirlwind,” Kane said. “To be able to sign with the team before free agency and…try to build with this group, it feels like I’m more part of it now instead of just a rental type of player. I definitely feel like a Wing now.”
It’s still weird for many Chicagoans to see No. 88 wearing the brighter shade of red, even though his last Hawks appearance was nearly two years ago and his Wednesday appearance at the United Center was far less momentous and dramatic than his first return back in February.
It would’ve been nearly impossible for Wednesday to equal that, after all, since Kane scored the storybook game-winner on an overtime breakaway that night, hours after Chris Chelios’ jersey retirement ceremony.
Instead, another Hawks-turned-Wings forward in Alex DeBrincat buried the opening goal, Wings captain Dylan Larkin gave the visitors the lead for good in the second period and the Hawks weren’t able to muster much pressure on Wings goalie Cam Talbot in the third period.
With the loss, the Hawks still haven’t put together a single three-game winning streak since trading Kane in February 2023. They’ve also now dropped four straight home games.
“It was disappointing,” coach Luke Richardson said. “We just didn’t have energy most of the night. [We made] a couple of poor decisions at times.”
Trading Kane paved the way for the Hawks to get Connor Bedard, since they went 6-17-2 after his departure in spring 2023 and fell into the right position for the draft lottery. As the present and former icons of the franchise, Kane and Bedard will always be linked, and Kane praised the 19-year-old star Wednesday.
Bedard, however, was stifled in the game — marking the fourth time in his last five outings he hasn’t recorded a point — while Nick Foligno scored the Hawks’ lone goal.
“[The Wings are] a team that cheats on offense,” Foligno said. “They’re going to take that risk, hoping that you’re going to play on the opposite side of them. We fed into it at the end [with] untimely turnovers or not getting it exactly where we needed to.”
For Kane, one enjoyable aspect of the day (besides the win) was participating in a morning skate. The Wings’ schedule didn’t allow him to do so last time in Chicago.
“[I was] looking around at all the banners and the building in general, [thinking about] how many great memories were here and how many times you were out there for morning skate donning that Blackhawks logo,” Kane said.
“It was a great run. I’ll never forget my years here in the city of Chicago, and the fans and the people and everyone that was a part of it. [I’ll] always cherish the chance to come back here, whether it’s in the summer and seeing different people, or coming back and playing. It’s pretty special.”
He hasn’t been thrilled with his performance so far this season, but he still ranks fourth on the Wings in scoring with eight points in 12 games — trailing behind only Larkin, DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond, the centerpiece of the Wings’ young core.
It has been so long since his hip bothered him, meanwhile, that it has reached “the point where you stop thinking about it.” His success since recovering from the operation makes him something of a medical trailblazer; the NHL community will never again be so skeptical of hip resurfacing surgeries.