"When they're apart, they'll have shifts in games where they'll be together," Quenneville said. "Over the course of a season, you know they'll be together at times. But that's something that's going to get sorted out. [Kane] gets a 2-on-5 and he makes one of those passes that's very special and a great one-timer. They'll always [get] some shifts together. It's whether they'll be permanently together is something we'll evaluate."
Spending nearly all of last season together seemed to work out pretty well.
Panarin had 30 goals, 47 assists and 77 points, and won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie. Kane led the League with a career-high 106 points, scored a career-high 46 goals and won the Hart Trophy, Art Ross Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. Anisimov benefited too, scoring 20 goals and 42 points.
"We know we need to essentially adjust to new partners, because everybody's good," Panarin said through an interpreter. "So, we are ready to get some new partners. But essentially, we score together, because we know each other and we work together."
Panarin played with Toews last season for a short time, but it hasn't been tested out long-term yet. Toews had 28 goals and 30 assists last season, but his assists total regressed after left wing Patrick Sharp was traded to the Dallas Stars. Hossa's struggle to score goals also contributed to a decrease in production for Chicago's first line.
Putting Panarin on the unit might help.
"I played with Toews a little bit last season," Panarin said. "But I'm ready to play with anyone. That's my role. I played with Kane more last season, that's my experience, but I'm ready to play with anyone."
Same goes for Kane, who's played most of his NHL career with a steady rotation of linemates.
"Last year is probably the one year that I really only played with a couple players, so I'm used to playing all over the place, playing with different guys," Kane said. "We'll see what happens. I know they wanted to try something different for the game [Saturday] and maybe throughout preseason, so I'll just play where they tell me to play I guess."