Unfortunate news for the Chicago Blackhawks as leading scorer Patrick Kane will be sidelined for 12 weeks following surgery to repair a broken left clavicle.
“The procedure went very well and we anticipate a full recovery in approximately 12 weeks,” Blackhawks head physician Dr. Michael Terry said in a statement.
Kane suffered the injury Tuesday night in a matchup against the Florida Panthers when he went hard into the boards after a cross check from defenseman Alex Petrovic. Chicago placed Kane on long term injured reserve and recalled forward Teuvo Teravainen from Rockford of the American Hockey League.
Heading into Tuesday’s game, Kane had 64 points on the season—tied for first in the league with Philadelphia Flyers forward Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers and Nicklas Backstrom of the Washington Capitals.
“You’ve got the leading scorer in the game on your team, so that’s a very valuable asset. He makes a lot of things work for us,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “We missed him for the majority of [the game Tuesday], and it was one of those where we were good for 40 and hung on there at the end.”
Chicago is currently third in the Central Division with 77 points on the season. With the Stanley Cup Playoffs scheduled to begin in seven weeks, Kane’s 12-week timetable for a return would be right around the beginning of the Conference Finals—should the Blackhawks make it that far.
Putting Kane on long-term injured reserve will free up roughly $6 million in cap space should Chicago look for a trade deadline acquisition to help offset the loss of Kane for the rest of the season and the playoffs. However, a cap crunch next season could limit the team’s trade targets to rental players on expiring contracts.
