Chicago Blackhawks: Patrick Kane’s comments should cause change
The Chicago Blackhawks management made a great mistake when they let one of their superstars go. It might have cost them more years of success.
Find you someone who looks at you the way Artemi Panarin used to look at Patrick Kane when they were on the ice together for the Chicago Blackhawks. They were the best duo on the best line in the National Hockey League for two seasons. In fact, in their first year together, Artemi Panarin won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie and Patrick Kane won the Hart Trophy as the MVP of the league.
It was a remarkable run for two elite players. There were plenty of people who claimed that “Panarin is only good because of Kane”. That could not have been more wrong. You can argue that he got better once he was taken away from Kane. His numbers certainly got better but that also was likely more due to more development in his game. Trading Artemi Panarin to the Columbus Blue Jackets was one of the biggest mistakes in the history of the franchise.
They got back Brandon Saad in the trade who is a very good player. With that said, he is not even close to Artemi Panarin who is one of the best wingers in the world. He was so good for Columbus that he earned a seven-year contract worth 11.6 million dollars per year with the New York Rangers. For a player to earn that much money, you know that they are the elite of the elite.
Patrick Kane did a little online interview during the quarantine. He was asked a bunch of questions but one fit this particular topic. He was asked which player he would most want to be on a. 2-on-1 with and he answered Artemi Panarin. His exact words following that answer were:
"“That was probably the funnest hockey I’ve ever played”"
That quote should make Stan Bowman and the rest of the management staff ashamed of themselves. Panarin is an MVP caliber player and they traded him away. You never know if Panarin would have taken a team-friendly discount but they surely would have extended their playoff run a minium two seasons. The fact that a guy like Patrick Kane, who has done it all in his career, claims that the most fun he ever had playing the game was with Panarin speaks volumes.
The Blackhawks should be ecstatic about the Ian Mitchell signing. light. Hot
This was an unforgivable trade made by Chicago and they might never get over it. These comments made by Kane should really spark some change. It isn’t the only horrible move that this management team has made but it is definitely the worst one.