Three-time Stanley Cup winner Patrick Kane is back on the ice and working out with the goal of returning to the NHL in the coming weeks.
The agency representing Kane, 34, released a video that shows the 2013 Conn Smythe winner appearing to run full-speed through on-ice drills as well as several weight and balance training sessions off the ice.
Kane is an unrestricted free agent after the expiration on July 1 of his eight-year, $84-million contract.
Kane elected to have hip-resurfacing surgery on June 1 to repair a nagging injury that hampered him over the past year with the Chicago Blackhawks and then down the stretch and playoffs after being traded to the New York Rangers.
Though eager to resume playing, Kane said previously he intended on sticking with the six-month rehabilitation timetable.
Kane’s production dipped last season, when he finished with 21 goals and 57 points in 73 games. Part of that was a result of his injury, with another spending the first 54 games on a Blackhawks team retooling for the future.
His production went up upon being traded to the Rangers, where he had five goals and 12 points in 19 regular-season games, and adding a goal and five assists in New York’s seven-game first-round series loss to New Jersey.
From Buffalo, N.Y., Kane is second only to Mike Modano in scoring among U.S.-born players, with 1,237 points. Kane was one of the centerpieces of Chicago’s Stanley Cup-winning teams in 2010, ’13 and ’15 and won the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 2016.
The NHL’s No. 1 draft pick in 2007, Kane joined Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom and Carl Hagelin as players to have the invasive hip surgery over the past year. It involves dislocating the upper end of the thighbone, trimming it, capping it and removing cartilage before putting it back in place.
— With files from The Associated Press
