Patrick Kane returns to Blackhawks on two-year contract

One of the biggest superstars to call the Windy City home is returning to the shores of Lake Michigan.

On Thursday, the Chicago Blackhawks announced that the team has signed future Hall of Famer Patrick Kane to a two-year contract. The deal will carry a cap hit of $8 million through the 2027-28 season.

Kane returns to the city he called home for well over 15 seasons, having spent the past three years with the Detroit Red Wings after a short stint with the New York Rangers in the late stages of the 2022-23 campaign.

The Buffalo native has spent the last couple of years trying to revitalize a struggling Red Wings team, failing to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs each time. It was a similar task that Kane had at the beginning of his career, when he was taken by the Blackhawks first overall in the 2007 NHL Draft. Along with names such as Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, and Keith Seabrook, Kane was a catalyst in dragging Chicago out of the depths of the league to becoming one of the standard-bearers for the better part of a decade.

Using his dynamite playmaking ability, Kane drove Chicago to three Stanley Cups in six years in the early 2010s, ending the franchise’s 49-year championship drought in 2010. With the Hawks, he reached the 100-point mark twice, doing so in 2015-16 and 2018-19, posting career highs in goals (44), assists (66) and points (110) in the latter.

Widely regarded as one of the best players in franchise history, Kane ranks third all-time in games played (1,161) and goals (446), and second in assists (779) and points (1,225). He won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2007-08, the Art Ross and Hart Trophy, as well as the Ted Lindsay Award in 2015-16, and the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2013.