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Steve Yzerman drops major hint on Patrick Kane's future with Red Wings
Photo credit: Sportsnet
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman hinted that there was strong mutual interest between the Red Wings and Patrick Kane on a new contract for next year.
At the end of last year, it wasn't overly optimistic that Patrick Kane would return to the Red Wings.
During his presser last April, Kane spoke about Detroit in the past tense and appeared to be ready to turn the page and join a new club. Instead, he and Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman eventually hammered out a 1-year extension that would keep him in Detroit for his 1st full year with the team.
After a slow start to the year under coach Derek Lalonde, Kane caught fire under coach Todd McLellan after he arrived on December 26 and looked far more like the future Hall of Fame forward who torched the rest of the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks earlier in his career.
Right now, all indications point toward there being very little difficulty in the Red Wings bringing back Kane for another year, per Yzerman.
He's played well for us, played an important role, and he's a professional in every sense. There's strong mutual interest from both sides. I'm optimistic we can get something done.
Kane himself has expressed interest in coming back for next year as well.
Last year, I felt like I sat up here and I was talking about security and maybe multi-year contracts, and then, you know, a month, couple weeks later, you think completely different. So, I think those are conversations that still need to be had with myself, my family, people closest to me, my agent and obviously with the organization, and figure all that out.
But, you know, I thought this year, with my age and the one-year bonuses and kind of working that contract, I thought it worked well for both sides.
He finished the year with 59 points (21G, 38A).
Previously on Red Wings Insider
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 30 | 142 ANSWERS Steve Yzerman drops major hint on Patrick Kane's future with Red Wings Do you want to see Patrick Kane return to the Red Wings next year? | ||
| Yes | 134 | 94.4 % |
| No | 8 | 5.6 % |
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