DETROIT — It’s hard to believe this is already Patrick Kane’s third season with the Red Wings, but it is. He’ll log his 129th game with a winged logo adorning his chest Sunday against the Blackhawks.
Half of Kane’s brain also finds that hard to believe. The other half finds it normal and comfortable.
“I feel like a Red Wing now,” Kane told the Sun-Times on Saturday. “Obviously, there’s a great history and past with what we did in Chicago, but it feels like a different era, right? Both sides moved on. When I watch them, it feels like a different organization, a different team. You feel like you belong here now.”
He’s squarely focused on helping the Wings break their own long playoff drought, not wondering when the Hawks will break theirs. The Wings are off to a promising start at 9-6-0, although they have lost three of their last four games.
Kane has appeared in only six of those games due to injury, but even as his 37th birthday approaches, there’s no denying the fact he has held up remarkably well.
He accumulated 59 points in 72 games last season and has five in six this season. He remains a very crafty playmaker. He has so far gone year-to-year with his contracts with the Wings, re-signing as a free agent each summer, and there’s no indication either side will seek to alter that pattern in 2026.
Kane’s brain hasn’t changed, either, not that anyone expected it would. His IQ and vision on the ice remain elite, even if his physical abilities no longer are — in similar fashion to Jonathan Toews in Winnipeg. Kane’s encyclopedic knowledge of hockey history, stats and schedules isn’t fading, either.
Speaking of schedules, he has one upcoming date mentally circled: New Year’s Eve at home against the Jets.
That will mark his first time facing Toews in a regular-season game. They’ve been texting each other “a lot” the past few months, and Kane admitted that matchup is “going to be so weird.”
“Obviously we have throughout our lives — [like] when we were kids — played against each other,” he said. “World juniors, world championships, Olympics and World Cup, as well. We’ve done it before. We just haven’t done it in the NHL. So it’ll be a little different.”
Thoughts on the Hawks
Even when Kane watches the NHL on his free nights, he no longer prioritizes watching the Hawks above everybody else. He just flips onto them from time to time.
Nonetheless, he has been pleasantly surprised by what he has seen.
“Everyone thought they would be one of the bottom teams in the league, and they’re competing,” he said. “It seems like they’re kind of rolling right now. They’re finding ways to win games and do it on the road. … A lot of their young, up-and-coming players have taken the next step, so that helps.”
He has been particularly impressed by Connor Bedard.
“He’s a special player,” Kane said. “He’s able to control the puck and make plays that other guys can’t. That’s just the reality of it. He does what other guys can’t do in the league.”
Red Wings coach Todd McLellan also hyped up the Hawks on Saturday, echoing similar narratives that other opposing coaches have brought up this fall.
“Their overall confidence level is much higher because they’ve earned the right to be confident,” McLellan said. “It starts with Bedard. But they have structure right now that allows them to predict where things are going to go.”