Kane recalls DeBrincat's story from 2017 training camp originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Alex DeBrincat tugged on Chicago's heartstrings before Opening Night, thanking the city and Blackhawks fans for their support over the years in an article published in The Players' Tribune.
There was one story that stood out, when DeBrincat was talking about feeling off going into training camp his rookie NHL season. Here's an excerpt, in his own words:
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"When I came to camp in 2017, I felt like I was in a place to succeed.
"But I had a bit of a hard time at that camp. I wasn’t nervous, I just wasn’t me. I remember we were practicing in South Bend, Indiana, on the Notre Dame campus — Kaner actually told me this story a few years ago from his perspective — and basically my game wasn’t in a good spot. I’d been a scorer my whole life, but now that I was trying to make the NHL, I felt like I needed a different dimension in my game. So I wasn’t doing the things that had gotten me to that point. And it got in my head. I basically couldn’t shoot the puck. Couldn’t one-time it. Couldn’t do anything. Some of the guys were noticing and Kaner told me that the coaches had pulled him aside and said, 'Man … why don’t you go teach this kid to shoot the puck?'
"So after practice, Kaner and I stayed on the ice and just sent one-timers back-and-forth for a bit and he helped me feel comfortable pretty quick. And we basically did that nearly every practice for the next five years. I think he wanted me to just be me."
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On Tuesday, I asked Patrick Kane if he recalled the story. Here was his perspective:
"I don't remember the first time specifically," Kane said. "I remember there was a time where [Joel] Quenneville came up to me and was like, 'You gotta teach this kid how to shoot the puck.' And I'm looking at him, he scored three 50, 60-goal seasons in the OHL.
"I don't know if he was nervous or what, but I remember just kind of talking to him about it. Now that's one guy you don't need to teach how to shoot the puck. He's pretty special at that. It was fun building that chemistry and friendship over the years."
From that point forward, Kane and DeBrincat constantly worked on that after practices. They even developed a pregame warmups tradition where both of them would feed each other two one-timers before leaving the ice.
Kane said he stays in touch with DeBrincat every two or three days, and same with Dylan Strome. The three of them developed a strong bond together, both on and off the ice.
"We stay in pretty close contact," Kane said. "It's good. It's nice to stay in touch with those guys. I was obviously pretty close with them when they were here. It's weird to be watching them on TV with different teams. I'll probably watch Brinsky tonight, I think he's got their home opener tonight. It'll be fun to watch them. Hoping for the best for those guys. It seems like they've gotten off to good starts."
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