Connor Bedard hoping for Patrick Kane, Blackhawks reunion: ‘Would make us a way better team’

There are plenty of reasons why Patrick Kane might choose to return to the Chicago Blackhawks this summer. There’s nostalgia. There’s the lure of home. There’s the promise of a big, top-six role at this late stage of his career.

There’s also Connor Bedard.

The possibility of playing on a line with Bedard likely would be high on Kane’s list. Bedard and Kane never overlapped and just missed playing together in Chicago. Kane was traded just a few months before the Blackhawks won the 2023 draft lottery and the right to draft Bedard. The two stars have expressed respect for each other’s games over the years, but it never seemed like a possibility they’d play together. That door seemed closed.

But as Kane now weighs his options as an unrestricted free agent, the Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres are among the favorites to sign him. Just last week, Chris Chelios told “670 The Score” in Chicago that he had spoken with Kane, and that he was down to those two teams. That possibility has excited plenty of Blackhawks fans. Count Bedard among them.

“I hope so,” Bedard said. “I don’t know what I can say to persuade his decision, but we’d all obviously be so excited to have (not only) a player like that, but also a guy like that,” Bedard said. “I can’t imagine his first game back at the (United Center), the reaction he’d get and how much juice that would bring not only to our team but our fans, as well.”

Bedard’s potential impact goes far beyond ticket sales, too. Kane might not be the superstar he was during his heyday in Chicago, when he won a Hart Trophy, a Calder Trophy and three Stanley Cup titles. But he’s still a productive player. Over three seasons in Detroit, he had 163 points in 189 games. It’s not hard to imagine those numbers getting a boost playing alongside a player such as Bedard, who has a creativity and dynamism that’s reminiscent of Kane.

“That would be incredible to get to play with him and learn from him,” Bedard said. “Hopefully he decides to come back. You talk about the legacy aspect of it, but as a team, it would make us a way better team. He’s still an amazing player. I don’t know if this is the best pitch, but hopefully he comes back and we can play together, for sure.”

Kane, who turns 38 in November, and Bedard, who turned 21 last week, are in different places in their careers. Bedard recently signed his second NHL contract and agreed to a five-year deal with a $15 million annual average value. Kane is on the verge of his seventh NHL contract and potentially his last one. Kane is a favorite of many players around the league who grew up watching him, and Bedard is no different. Ahead of Kane’s first game in Chicago as a visiting player back in Bedard’s rookie season, Bedard said he had watched Kane’s “mixtapes” online “probably 100 times.”

It’s unclear when Kane will decide. His agent, Pat Brisson, said Monday there was no timeline for a decision.

Kane has made Chicago his offseason home for over the last decade and trains at the Blackhawk Ice Center during the summer. He even has his own stall in the Blackhawks dressing room.