Q&A with Blackhawks' Patrick Kane ahead of 1,000th game originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Patrick Kane is set to appear in his 1,000th career NHL game on Tuesday when the Blackhawks visit the Dallas Stars on NBC Sports Chicago. He joined the latest Blackhawks Talk Podcast to discuss what the milestone means to him, hitting 400 career goals and what continues to drive him even at age 32.
Here is the first half of the transcript from the Q&A, which has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity:
Well, Patrick, 14 seasons, a lot has certainly happened from Game 1 to 1,000. Usually these milestones come while a career is winding down, but what's it like to go through these milestone moments when you still have a lot of years left in you?
Yeah, I mean, it's good. It's exciting. It was nice to get 400 out of the way there, especially with three days off in between games. I think [Dylan Strome] was saying to me before the season, what's going to come first my 400th goal or my 1,000th game? So, nice to get that before 1,000. We were playing Tampa Bay this weekend, too, so it's some important games and you don't really want to be thinking about anything else rather than just playing the game and doing your best out there.
Happy that 400 is over with and obviously 1,000 coming up, I'll enjoy that when it comes. But right now, I'm not thinking too much about the future. Just enjoying the present, this is a fun team to be around and fun to share moments like these with these guys.
Let's turn back the clock a little bit. Remember your draft day, you're drafted first overall by the Blackhawks. If somebody told you that night you'd have three Stanley Cups, a Calder Trophy, Hart Trophy, Art Ross Trophy, 400 goals, 1,000 points and 1,000 games by the age of 32 and you're still playing at your best, what would your reaction have been?
I don't know, I guess I'd be pretty happy with it. I think, definitely, happy with the way a lot of things have shaken out over my career. I'm excited with where I'm at, too, so that's a good thing. I think when you're reaching these type of milestones, it's exciting to get there and exciting to be at certain numbers but it always kind of leaves you wanting more, to greater those numbers or win more Stanley Cups.
Obviously there's things you want to do and I think for me, too, I'm just really enjoying the game right now. There's numbers you want to reach and stuff but you don't really think about them too much until they come up. I'm just having fun with this group, having fun playing the game and it's always fun when you're winning, too.
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Your coach, your teammates, even you talk about your competitiveness. You're one of the most competitive athletes I've ever covered. Are you competitive when it comes to where you sit in the points race or when it comes to the NHL all-time record books?
That's a good question. I definitely pay attention to it. I think if you're looking at it like, [Connor] McDavid and [Leon] Draisaitl and [Auston] Matthews and [Mitch] Marner, these guys are so good, they're going to get their points, they're going to put up numbers. Sometimes I'm watching them as a fan, too, just to kind of learn some things and see what they do on the ice and see what works for them.
But at the same time, when I get on the ice, I'm competitive, too, where I want to ... I guess I never really think about putting up points. Obviously points are nice and it's good to look at, something you enjoy, but for me it's more about creating and getting the puck and creating scoring chances. I feel like if I do that enough in the game or I'm getting the puck a lot then things are going to happen and there's going to be some scoring chances created, so that's where I really try to set my mind before a game. It's nice to look at after games and see where you rank, see where you're at, especially when things are going well.
You recently hit the 400-goal mark for your career. Blackhawks fans know all the big goals you've scored in the postseason, but of the 400 goals in the regular season, is there one that stands out to you as your favorite?
I would say probably the one I was most excited about would be the 100-point one against the Bruins where it was a hat trick goal, it's your 100 points. I think I went into that game at 96 points and you're hoping you're hitting 100 on the season and I didn't think I was going to get four that night. And then halfway through the second period you got a 2-on-1 with [Artemi] Panarin and you knew he was going to give me the puck.
I think the game was like 5 or 6-0 at that point, if I remember correctly, and I still had the big celebration. I just remember realizing that you hit 100 points on your hat trick goal, I had chills going down my back as I was celebrating going down the ice. So that was probably one of the better feelings for a regular season goal.
You've seemingly accomplished everything in your career and yet you're never satisfied with where your game is at, constantly looking for ways to get better. What drives Patrick Kane? And where do you get that drive from?
I think it's a lot of different things. I just think the inner competition at the Blackhawks here has been so good for so long, whether it's going up against [Patrick Sharp] in practice or scoring races, same thing with [Jonathan Toews], if he was on a different line and his line scored, you wanted to score as well just to kind of match him. Maybe even outscore what they did. The inner competition has been so good here that it's pushed me to be better.
And now we talk about a lot of these young guys and they're pushing the limits on how far they can go as far as putting up numbers and points. I think that makes it competitive with them as well to show that you belong in the same sentence as some of these players, maybe maybe not, but you want to help your team just as much. I think that's where the competitiveness comes in.
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