Instead of being a cute preseason distraction, the Chicago Blackhawks plan on keeping Patrick Kane at center to start the season.
That’s the word from CSNChicago.com’s Tracey Myers, who revealed that Kane is starting to embrace his return to the pivot position. (Apparently Kane grew up playing at center in his younger days before evolving into one of best right wings in the NHL.)
Even Kane seemed reluctant to move to the middle, especially considering the challenges related to a wrist injury that troubled him this summer. It’s hard to imagine Kane winning many faceoffs and a jump in defensive responsibility doesn’t sound like the best idea, either.
Then again, there are appealing perks: it should help him get the puck more often and also accounts for Dave Bolland’s injury. Oh yeah, it also allows the Blackhawks to roll out two one-two punches that will make defenses weep: Kane-Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews-Patrick Sharp.
It’s a flawed but potentially productive idea in theory, but we’ll begin to really test Joel Quenneville’s hypothesis during the team’s season opener against the Dallas Stars tonight.