Patrick Kane's the (No.) 1 to watch

Blackhawks rookie Patrick Kane, the most recent No. 1 pick, is turning heads in Chicago. He'll make his regular-season debut tonight against the Wild.

By Michael Russo, Star Tribune

Last update: October 3, 2007 - 11:28 PM

As a fellow Buffaloan, Kevyn Adams hit it off with the NHL's No. 1 overall pick, Patrick Kane, when the NHL vet invited the 18-year-old to his annual charity golf tournament over the summer.

A month later, Adams was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks "and I jumped for joy," Kane said, smiling. "They put us together in the hotel, and Kevyn's taught me the ropes."

Now that Kane's made the Blackhawks, Adams figured he'd take the mentor role a bit further and invite Kane to move in with his family in the Chicago suburbs.

"I said, I don't know if you want to be around three little kids, but this way, me and my wife can go out for dinner once in a while," Adams, who turns 33 Monday, said, laughing. "I don't know if the $10 an hour for baby sitting is going to really matter to him."

Kane, the generously-listed 5-10, and baby-faced right wing, will make his NHL debut tonight against the Wild.

Two weeks ago, a few Wild players mistakenly thought he was a stickboy when they saw him outside Chicago's dressing room. Later that night, when Kane scored his first goal, had an assist and helped create Sergei Samsonov's buzzer beater to send the exhibition game to overtime, Wild players realized what all the fuss is about.

"He looks like we should be dropping him off for his first year in high school, but he can receive the puck, process what's available and make a play as fast as anybody I've ever seen since [Wayne] Gretzky," Blackhawks assistant GM Rick Dudley said. "I don't know what that translates into, but at Lake Placid at the world junior tryout tournament in August, I wrote down he may be the best player at his age I've ever scouted."

And yes, Dudley has scouted a long, long time.

Still, Kane, who scored 62 goals and 145 points in 58 games last season for the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights, knows it'll take time to get used to the NHL's speed.

"Just watching a guy like [Martin] Havlat fly around and do things at full speed without even having to think about it, I can't wait to be able to do that," Kane said.

Kane's size is often questioned, but not by Hall of Famer Denis Savard, the Blackhawks' coach.

"I was little, too," said Savard. "It's not even an issue. Watch him play, little guys are slippery. He's got his head up all the time. He thinks the game, and he has great vision. I'll tell you, you get him a scoring chance, you know where it's going."

What helps is Kane's not expected to carry the Blackhawks. They're stacked with stars such as Havlat, quality veterans and up-and-coming youngsters.

"We just want him to be one of 23 guys," Adams said.

Also, 19-year-old Jonathan Toews, the third overall pick in 2006 and former North Dakota and Shattuck-St. Mary's star, is along for the ride. He is questionable tonight because of a broken finger.

Kane remembers how Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen led the Bulls to six championships and says "maybe [Toews] and I could re-energize Blackhawk fans the way Savard and [Steve] Larmer did in the 1980s and Jeremy Roenick did later."

Adams says it's fun seeing how wide-eyed Kane is.

"He just can't believe he doesn't have to go to class, although I did tell him this year I'm going to get him to start reading books," Adams said. "It's one of my missions. I told him, 'You're 18. Your brain's still developing.'

"I'll work him in by bringing some of my [6-year-old] daughter's books home from school."

Michael Russo • mrusso@startribune.com

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