Detroit Red Wings activate Patrick Kane from injured reserve, expected to return vs. Canucks

While it has yet to be confirmed, Kane, 35, is expected to be in the lineup for Saturday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.

Based on the forward lines run during practice on Thursday, Kane is expected to slot on the second line with David Perron and J.T. Compher. This trio has just 1:30 of ice time together this season, with both teams held scoreless and a 72.73% 5v5 expected goal share in that time.

Kane has been out of the lineup since January 14th when he suffered his lower-body injury in a 4-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. In the seven games he’s missed since then, the Wings have gone 4-2-1.

Kane has continued to produce like he has throughout his career when he’s played this season, as he has 7 goals and 9 assists for 16 points in 19 games. That’s good for a 42-point pace should he play out the rest of the year, which would be the lowest point total of his career, but up until this season the fewest games he’d played in a season was 47 in the 2012-13 lockout shortened season.

Kane was the former first-overall pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2007 NHL Draft, and spent the first 16 seasons of his NHL career in Chicago, winning three Stanley Cups with them in 2010, 2013 and 2015 and the Conn Smythe trophy in the 2013 Cup win. He also won the Calder Trophy in 2008 and the Art Ross Trophy, the Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award in 2016 during his time with the Blackhawks. He finally left the Blackhawks at the 2023 trade deadline in a deal that sent him to the New York Rangers, where he spent the rest of the season.

After undergoing an operation on his hip in the offseason, he signed his current one-year, $2.75 million contract with the Red Wings a bit over a month into the season. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent again in the 2024 offseason.

The Red Wings will look to bounce back from their 3-2 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators when they host the Canucks on Saturday at 1 p.m. EST. Detroit currently sits in fifth in the Atlantic Division with a 26-18-6 record, and hold down the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.