Back in mind-July when the Blackhawks announced Patrick Kane was undergoing surgery to repair a fracture in his left wrist, they stressed the fact that recovery time would only be 6-8 weeks and Kane should be good to go just in time for training camp.
Turns out that may have been a little optimistic.
Despite Stan Bowman’s assertion on Monday that Kane’s recovery was right on target, Kane himself said he’s not exactly pushing too hard for the camp opening. During an interview today on Sportsnet Radio FAN 590 in Toronto, Kane sounded like he’s more looking towards the opening night tilt against the Stars.
Now, from all the quotes I’ve seen so far, it seems like there isn’t a ton of information here. For starters, this isn’t a set in stone report that Patrick Kane is going to miss training camp and preseason. He’s a little vague (probably intentionally) with any concrete details. He went to the doctors on Monday and everything “seems to be checking in” and it was “good news”. Yet the next statement says he should be ready for the start of the season… not training camp like we’ve been previously told. So right now everything is all up in the air.. However, seeing as it’s an incredibly slow time for hockey news, lets feel free to speculate some, shall we?
We can first take the “tough luck” approach – the fracture/surgery is healing.. just a little slower than hoped. It happens.
The second – a nice cynical approach. The Blackhawks knew the surgery would take a little longer to heal but wanted to sell tickets to the Training Camp and Pre-season.. and the hope of seeing Kane in those events makes the events bigger draws.
The third… Obviously, Patrick Kane is lazy and refuses to heal on time just so he can skip out on camp/pre-season.
I clearly think it’s the first.. but the other two certainly make for a better subject to talk about. So lets all just assume it’s the third…what a lazy bastard