DETROIT – A 57-year-old and a 4-year-old will have a significant influence on whether Patrick Kane returns to the Detroit Red Wings.
The older guy is coach Todd McLellan. Kane was struggling to find his game in late December. Then McLellan arrived and Kane prospered.
The youngster is Kane’s son, Patrick III, who loves being here, and that’s important, too.
Kane said on Saturday that he’ll take some time to think about his future, but added, “I’ve really enjoyed my time here and I think it’s been a great place for me to continue my career. And there’s a lot of great things about the organization that have helped me, not only with my injury, but to find a good role within the team. I think there’s definitely some mutual interest in coming back. We’ll see what happens.”
Kane, 36, signed a one-year, $4 million extension the day before the start of free agency last year and earned an additional $1.75 million for games played bonuses.
He led the team in points per game (1.05) after McLellan arrived (16 goals, 45 points in 43 games), thriving in a more aggressive offensive system. He averaged only 0.48 points per game in 29 games under Derek Lalonde (five goals, 14 points).
“Familiarity, playing within the system, understanding how he coaches, playing with a lot of guys in the room, my role on the team, role on the power play,” Kane said. “I think that’s all a lot of positive stuff that I experienced over the last little while.”
A year ago when Kane was pondering his future, he asked his son where he should play and Patrick III told him Detroit. The younger Kane has made friends here and enjoys coming to games.
“Imagine if I took him away from Archie (Alex DeBrincat’s son). He’d be crushed,” Kane said. “He enjoys (Detroit). That’s an important part of it. I think just the ability for him to come down and give the players knucks after warmups, the way they take care of the kids here -- they’re allowed to come in the locker room whenever -- the friendships he’s made with other kids is important as well.
“All that stuff is only positive thoughts about the organization. It’s incredible the way the kids are taken care of, and he doesn’t know any better, but he loves coming to the games and being part of it and staying as long as he can and enjoying it. So, that’s definitely an important factor.”
Kane played in his 1,300th game on April 14 and feels he still has some good hockey in him.
“I think it’d be cool to get to 1,500,” he said. “That’s probably a goal I put in my mind. I think that’s definitely possible. But with everything that’s gone on (regarding his hip surgery in 2024), it’s probably something that I just look at year after year and see where I’m at.
“I still love the game. It’s my life. It’s what I want to do. It’s what I think about every day, whether it’s how I take care of my body, how I take care of myself, what I want to do this summer, how I want to train, what I want to look like on the ice next year. Game to game preparation, I love all that stuff. It’s still something I very much enjoy and I’m not thinking about stopping anytime soon.”
