Patrick Kane Returns To Blackhawks Practice But Doesn't Take Contact
(CBS) Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane participated with teammates in practice Wednesday in non-contact fashion, another sign of solid progress in his return from a fractured left clavicle that he suffered on Feb. 24.
Kane donned a white non-contact sweater, but he skated, shot and passed alongside the team. His return isn't imminent, but it appears to be coming sooner than mid-May, which was the original timeline for a return that the team gave him.
"He's skating well," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said, according to CSNChicago.com. "He's doing what he can do. But there's still a process that has to be followed there. He's a ways away."
Kane can't yet take one-timers or do slap shots, CNSChicago.com reported, and he doesn't want to rush back.
"I guess you have to wait a little while for it to heal and for the bone to become itself again," Kane said, according to CSNChicago.com. "I think it's frustrating, but it is what it is. Like I said before and like I've been saying all along to everyone I've been talking to, it's something you've got to stay patient with and make sure you're not really rushing an injury like this because it doesn't make any sense to do that."
The Blackhawks host the Canucks at the United Center on Thursday. The playoffs start in mid-April.