Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks are in the midst of a full-scale rebuild, and with Kane in the final season of his contract, there's viable speculation he could be moved before the NHL's Trade Deadline.
Kane signed an eight-year, $84 million contract with the Hawks in July of 2014, and will be due for a new deal at the end of this year. But if the 34-year-old does remain a Blackhawk at the end of the campaign, there's a chance he could be playing with Connor Bedard next season.
“From what I saw, I think it's all right there, he's going to be special,” Kane said about Bedard in an exclusive interview with NBC Sports Chicago's Pat Boyle this week. “I would say he was one of the guys that really stuck out…Everyone talks about his shot and his ability to shoot from different angles and off a different foot each time but man, the way he moves laterally is what gives him that space to be able to do that, so pretty impressive.”
Bedard is the surefire No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft; he's been dominating the Western Hockey League and led Canada to a gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championships earlier in January.
The Blackhawks currently sit in dead last in the Central Division at 10-25-4; the way things are going, they have a realistic shot to land Bedard in June. Kane certainly thinks Bedard could accelerate the team's rebuild if they are lucky enough to win the top pick.
“That's kind of the hope of a top pick,” Kane said. “And it's not like he's going to be a first overall pick that's going to have to wait a year or two, right? He's going to come right in and be a difference-maker right away, so yeah, I could see that for sure.”
Connor Bedard has said that he models his game around Patrick Kane, and although the chances of Kane staying with the Hawks and them landing Bedard is slim, a line featuring those two would be a salivating prospect for fans across the hockey world.
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