CHICAGO — Clearly Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane doesn’t like the word “rebuild.”
“I mean, I guess it’s all noise, right?” he said. “You could talk about ‘rebuild’ — it seems like that word is brought up a lot — but as a player it’s more about just trying to be the best you can be and to help the team win.”
“Rebuild” comes up a lot because the Hawks made it the centerpiece of their public introduction of new general manager Kyle Davidson.
“We’re going to look at more of a rebuild here,” Davidson said in March. “There are some things that we really need to fix that are going to take time. No matter if it takes three years, five years to get to the level of success that we’re looking to achieve, when we get there, it’s our mission to stay there.”
Still, players such as Alex DeBrincat have expressed a desire to “accelerate” the rebuild by winning sooner than expected, so it begs the question: Do the players’ and the organization’s perceptions of the rebuild align?
“Yeah, you can win and still be in a rebuild,” Kane said Tuesday at the United Center in what amounted to an exit interview for the season. “I think there are teams that have accelerated that, too, right?”
Kane held up the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers as prime examples.
The Kings have leaped from a .438 points percentage during the abbreviated 2020-21 season to a .600 percentage that puts them in playoff position.
The Rangers finished fifth in the reconfigured eight-team East Division last season but rank second in the Metropolitan this season.
However, a naysayer could point out that — if one discounts the expanded postseason format in 2019-20 — each team has had a three-season gap since its previous playoff appearance.
Nevertheless, Kane said, “You look at L.A., they had some young guys that ... maybe exceeded some of their front-office expectations, and all of a sudden they’re in a spot where they can sign guys like (Phillip) Danault and trade for (Viktor) Arvidsson and they’re a better team.
“Same thing with the Rangers, right? It was like they put out that memo a couple of years ago that they’re rebuilding, and all of a sudden they’re one of the best teams in the league a couple of years later. Obviously you bring a guy in like (Artemi) Panarin, that helps. Or a guy like (goaltender Igor) Shesterkin, he comes to the forefront.”
Kane referenced those teams but also took stock of the youth on the Hawks roster.
“You need those young guys obviously to take next steps, but I think it could be done quicker than maybe some people think,” he said. “So as a player, like I said, you’re not worried about how long it takes or what’s going on as far as when we’re going to win again, but you’re always trying to help that process move along as quickly as possible.”
Defenseman Connor Murphy, making his first media appearance since suffering a concussion against the Ottawa Senators on March 12, agreed with Kane’s line of thinking.
“I think every player, no matter what stage is spoken about the organization that you’re in, is going to be equally as eager to make the playoffs and work as hard to get there,” Murphy said. “And it doesn’t mean that you’re not going to (make the playoffs) each year just because you’re in a rebuild.
“I don’t look at it with any negativity. ... I’m happy to be here as long as I’m wanted and fortunate, even though we’ve had some struggling seasons, to be a part of this group.”
