CHICAGO-- Johnny Gaudreau has studied Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane's game since his junior hockey days. From the start, the Calgary Flames forward tried to emulate his game after Kane's, tried to pick up anything he could from watching him.
"The way he sees the ice, how he makes plays, his hands, his footwork," Gaudreau, who was selected in the fourth round (No. 104) of the 2011 NHL Draft, said of Kane. "It's not easy to learn from him but when you watch him for a long, long time you can pick up tendencies. It's something I've done over the years now."
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Gaudreau, 24, and
Kane
, 29, share a lot of the same attributes, from their elusiveness to their stickhandling to their playmaking abilities. Each is leading his respective team in scoring; Gaudreau had 73 points for the Flames and Kane had 58 for the Blackhawks, heading into play Thursday. And as much as Gaudreau likes to study Kane's game, the feeling is mutual.
"Just a fun player to watch," Kane, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NHL Draft, said of Gaudreau. "He gets the puck and it seems a lot of defenders don't know what to do with him. If you go at him, he's going to stop up, turn up and find the late guy. If you back off, you give him time and space to look up and make plays, which he obviously has the hockey sense to do that."