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Patrick Kane says he’s not rushing anything, hopes to be ready for season opener

Florida Panthers v Chicago Blackhawks

CHICAGO, IL - MARCH 23: Patrick Kane #88 of the Chicago Blackhawks skates against the Florida Panthers at the United Center on March 23, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. The Blackhawks defeated the Panthers 4-0. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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Yesterday we had positive words from Chicago GM Stan Bowman about how Patrick Kane was doing in his recovery from surgery on his left wrist. Kane injured his wrist this summer and the recovery time after surgery was set to be 6-8 weeks before getting back into action. With that surgery happening in mid-July, that put Kane’s comeback window somewhere around mid-September, just in time for training camp.

Kane spoke with Fan 590 in Toronto and talked about how he’s doing and his self-prognosis for when he’ll get back on the ice is a bit longer than what Bowman may have been hoping for. Tracey Myers from CSNChicago.com provides us with the update.

“I’m not going to rush anything,” he told Sportsnet Radio FAN 590. “My goal is to be ready for the opening regular-season game (against the Dallas Stars on Oct. 7).”

Kane said he’s feeling good and the wrist is healing as it should. But so far he’s only been able to skate on his own instead of his usual habit of skating with some Buffalo Sabres at this time of the summer.

“All I’ve been able to do is skate by myself,” he told 590. “But you still have to skate. That’s part of our job in the summer is to get ready any way we can. That’s what I’m doing right now.”


Being ready for training camp is all well and good and helps guys get ready for the regular season, but being 100% for the regular season is a bit more important. It’s good that Kane is skating and keeping himself in shape, but not having him available to do all the drills and being able to handle a stick is disappointing for the Hawks.

Kane is an obviously important player for the team and having him ready to go on opening night would be better than having him rush back too soon and potentially get re-injured. After all, the season is a long haul, not a sprint out of the gates. Having Kane ready whenever he’s ready to go is most important. Staying conditioned will be key for him as being rusty in the first couple games will eventually go away. If he couldn’t keep up with the rest of the team, that’d be a bigger problem.