Patrick Kane Opens Blackhawks Camp With Nazar and Kantserov

Patrick Kane stepped onto the ice for the start of Chicago Blackhawks training camp on Thursday, a routine he knows as well as anyone. The room around him is what threw him.

"A lot of it is so familiar in a lot of ways, and then you get out there on the ice and you look at all the players out there and everyone's completely different, right?" Kane said. "So different coaches, different players. So different in that way, but yeah, so exciting."

Kane, who turns 38 in November, is beginning his 20th NHL season with the team he started with. He left Detroit for Chicago in free agency, signing a two-year contract worth $16 million on July 23.

He skated on the first day with 22-year-old Frank Nazar and rookie Roman Kantserov, who turns 22 on Sunday.

"Patrick is a super high IQ hockey player, and a lot of give-and-go to his game," coach Jeff Blashill said. "Both Frankie and Roman can play some of that give-and-go game with him; they think it a little bit the same way."

The Blackhawks went 29-39-14 last season, an 11-point improvement but still last in the Central Division. Along with Kane, they added defenceman Bowen Byram in the offseason.

"We wouldn't make some of the transactions we made if we didn't believe there was a step to be had here," general manager Kyle Davidson said. "It's all about showing up and expecting something every night and we should expect to arrive and win."

Kane had 16 goals and 41 assists in 67 games with Detroit last season. He has reached 50 points in 18 of his 19 seasons, won the Hart Trophy in 2016 and won the Stanley Cup in Chicago in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

Captain Connor Bedard is expected to miss the start of the season while recovering from left shoulder surgery, and could slot alongside Kane when he returns. Chicago opens the season Sept. 29 at Vegas.

"I thought, you know, as a line today, we got more and more chemistry as the day went on," Kane said. "So excited to keep building with them."