Patrick Kane will be coming back for a 20th NHL season. The question is, where?
"I haven’t really thought about it too much. I’ll definitely be playing," Kane said after the Red Wings lost to the Lightning on Monday night in their penultimate game of the season. "I think there’s more in the tank, and excited to see what level that can be at."
Kane, 37, had a herky-jerky season in year three with Detroit. He started well and overcame an early-season upper-body injury that cost him three weeks, posting 23 points in his first 24 games. But after another upper-body injury cost him two more weeks, Kane fell into a rut heading into the Olympic break. He rebounded on the other side of it. He leads the Wings in scoring with 24 points over the last 19 games.
That feels meaningful for a team with a track record of struggling at this time of year. While the Red Wings lapsed into another late-season spiral that cost them a playoff spot, Kane was one of their few players raised his game down the stretch.
"I thought I had a good finish to the season," said Kane. "Looking back on it, I had a good start, (then an) injury, kind of took me a little bit to find my game after that. I was playing well, injured again, it took me a while to get back after that. You miss some stretches, it’s not easy, but happy with the way I finished, especially after the Olympic break. Felt really good. Definitely feel like there’s more gas still in the tank."
Kane is not the asset at five-on-five that he used to be, and that's an issue for a team that struggled to produce five-on-five offense all season. He can be a liability without the puck. He took one of the costliest penalties of the Red Wings' season late in a crushing loss to the Wild that cost Detroit at least a point, after which Kane said "this is maybe the worst I’ve felt personally in my career, just letting the team down and the position we were in."
But he remains a key cog on the Wings' power play and has strong chemistry with close friend Alex DeBrincat, the team's leading goal-scorer. Kane assisted on 14 of DeBrincat's 41 goals this season. They were Detroit's best duo of wingers, often regardless of the center between them. Kane also hit some major milestones along the way, breaking the all-time scoring record for American-born players and becoming the third American-born player to score 500 career goals.
His assist on DeBrincat's goal Tuesday night gave Kane 1,400 points, 24th all time and fourth among active players, behind only Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin.
"The friendship, the chemistry (with DeBrincat), I think the good thing is we’re never really satisfied. And I could say the same for him, ever since he’s come into the league," said Kane. "It’s always fun to do it with him at my side and be part of it. He’s such a great player. Incredible player, incredible kid. I think he’s the definition of a winner, and he’s going to find a way to win one day. I would believe in that kid, 100 times, over and over again."
Whether Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings still believe in Kane is an important question. At face value, Kane is a bargain. He has 57 points in 66 games this season on a one-year, $3 million deal that netted him an extra $3 million in bonuses for reaching 50 games played. The Red Wings would be hard-pressed to replace that offense at even close to the same cap hit.
But -- the Red Wings are a 'but' unto themselves at this point -- Kane does not possess the qualities the team lacks. He does not bring "the heaviness and the hardness" that Todd McLellan lamented in his players after Detroit's playoff drought reached 10 years, missing attributes that date back to the Wings' first March meltdown under Derek Lalonde. He's still dangerous with time and space and the puck on his stick, but he does not create much time and space for himself. He does not win his own pucks.
Bringing Kane back would be inviting more of the same offense, with more of the same flaws. But -- see what we mean here? -- can the Red Wings afford to let all those points walk out the door?
All things being equal, Kane would probably like to stay in Detroit. He and his family have enjoyed their time here. His five-year-old son Trick has become a fixture around the Red Wings' locker room, fist-bumping the players on their way on and off the ice before games. Kane said that "the organization has been incredible to me and my family, and that’s something that you definitely realize." And surely something that he takes into account when he ponders where to finish his career.
In the past two offseasons, this has felt like a Kane decision: did he want to stay with a team that wasn't contending for the Cup? Now it feels as much like a Red Wings decision: do they want to stick with a central figure on a team that continues to miss the playoffs? The answer felt like an easy 'no' a month or two ago, when Kane frankly look finished. But his surge down the stretch adds another layer to the conversation.
Indeed, Kane represents the complexity of this offseason for Yzerman. All the way up to captain Dylan Larkin, the Red Wings' roster has a lot of good players who individually make sense to retain. But -- see!? -- the sum of their parts is clearly insufficient. New parts are needed in the name of a greater whole.
It's for Kane to decide if he'd like to be back. It's for Yzerman to decide which parts can be replaced.
