The Chicago Blackhawks placed star forward Patrick Kane on long-term injured reserve after he sustained an upper-body injury Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers. The Chicago Tribune reported that Kane’s timeline for recovery could be anywhere from six to 10-plus weeks.
With Kane on LTIR, the Blackhawks star would be required to miss at least 10 games and 21 days. After that, Kane can remain on LTIR for as long as the team requires. The Blackhawks will have significant cap space freed up in the event they’d like to make a trade as Kane's $6.3 million cap hit is alleviated as long as he is on the injured list.
The team has already recalled top prospect Teuvo Teravainen to take Kane’s spot in the lineup.
This is a tough blow for a Blackhawks squad that has benefited greatly from what was looking like a career year from Kane. He is tied for the league lead with 64 points and paces the Blackhawks with 27 goals and 37 assists.
The Blackhawks are currently in third place in the Central Division and appear to be on a collision course with a first-round matchup with the St. Louis Blues. That’s a club with a lot of offensive depth and if Kane’s timeline is along the lines of a 10-week recovery as reported, he wouldn’t be available for a first-round playoff series.
The question the Blackhawks have to ask themselves now is how much better would they be with a rental player? They can’t possibly take on much by way of term as Kane’s and Jonathan Toews’ new contract extensions kick in next year, leaving the team already scrambling for cap space heading into next season.
The team has been linked to players like forward Antoine Vermette of the Arizona Coyotes and defenseman Andrej Sekera of the Carolina Hurricanes, which both could be good options, but would be a lot better if they were added to a lineup with Kane. Shedding assets to try to make a run without their most productive player could have negative long-term effects.
That's especially true because the team is going to need some of its younger, cheaper players to step up in the coming years as the Hawks continue to deal with a cap crunch. This is one of those instances where the long-term risk appears to overtake the short-term benefits.
A definitive timeline on Kane’s return has not yet been announced, but with his placement on long-term injured reserve, it’s going to be quite a while.
