Kane uses 2010 Blackhawks, video games to pass time during pause

CHICAGO -- Patrick Kane won't be stopped from working out as though a return to the ice is imminent.

There's a lot of uncertainty revolving around the NHL season, which has been on pause since March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, but the Chicago Blackhawks forward said he's doing his best to stay in shape.

"I've just [been] in my condo in Chicago and just been training pretty much every day," Kane said in a video call arranged by the NHL on Monday that also included New York Islanders center Mathew Barzal and Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele. "I go down to what is known as the Pilates studio in my building, but it's a pretty big space."

It wasn't surprising to hear there's little slowing down for Kane, who is consistently the last Blackhawks player off the ice in warmups and usually one of the last at practice. The 31-year-old leads Chicago with 84 points (33 goals, 51 points) in 70 games; center Jonathan Toews is second with 60 points (18 goals, 42 assists).

Besides working out, Kane said he's been watching reruns of the Blackhawks' run to the 2010 Stanley Cup championship, Chicago's first since 1961.

"It's kind of fun to look back and see how good of a team that was and how we played back then," Kane said.

Kane said the quarantine has also rekindled his love of video games.

"I probably hadn't played video games in the past five years, and I started playing Xbox again with my friends online," he said. "So that's been pretty fun. That's been taking up a lot of my time, and I'm watching shows as well. Just kind of waiting to hear what's going to happen [with the season] and trying to stay inside too."

A big part of the conversation among Kane, Scheifele and Barzal on Monday was their obsession with hockey, be it playing, watching or discussing. Kane said his dad, Patrick Sr., was reminded of that during the 2020 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend in St. Louis in January.

"My dad had a funny story; me and [Scheifele] were on the bus to the All-Star media [event] this year, and he said we just talked about hockey for 30 minutes and my dad didn't say a word the whole bus ride," Kane said. "He said it was just cool to tune in and listen to us pick apart the game a little bit."

At the end of the call, Kane had a message for Blackhawks fans and the people of Chicago.

"It's important to stay safe, stay healthy," Kane said. "Try and stay inside, try to do what you can to quarantine and self-isolate yourself from everyone so that we can get past this as quick as possible. Hopefully it's something we can look [at] in the rearview mirror pretty quickly and get back to playing hockey. I think that's what obviously all three of us want to do and enjoy the most.

" … To all the people in Chicago, I think we're here with you during this time. Let's stay inside and we'll get through it and hopefully be back at the United Center soon playing some games."