Patrick Kane & Todd McLellan Morning Skate Media | Dec. 13, 2025

Patrick Kane & Todd McLellan Morning Skate Media | Dec. 13, 2025

So, third time back, does it get any more normal making the first lap, the first right instead of going down? Yeah. Uh, a little different obviously. Um, you know, you spent so much time here. Um, you know, usually you’re walking past into uh, you know, the Hawks locker room and uh, never really seen this one until till a few years ago. So, um, you know, it’s uh, it’s always fun to come back. Do you have your parents uh in the building now? They graduate close to 500 goals and uh kind of how do you play that? Yeah, they’re here tonight. Um I’m not really sure what their plan is going forward, but uh be nice to get it sooner sooner rather than later. Just uh kind of move on with the season. But um uh yeah, they’re here tonight. So uh got a lot a lot of family here tonight. My parents, Amanda, my son, um a bunch of her bunch of Amanda’s family. and then uh my sister’s coming home as well. Just your thoughts on the Quinn Hughes trade that’s pretty seismic. Uh how closely do you follow that and what was your reaction when you saw um yeah I mean I think Quinn’s a great player. He’s he’s one of the special players in the league that can, you know, take over a game um individually, which is, you know, there’s only a handful of those. So um you know, we saw firsthand how tough he is to defend the other night at the blue iron. the way he moves, the way he kind of buys time, shakes and bakes up there and uh um yeah, it was uh you know, you hear a lot of rumors and Red Wings were uh were part of that, too. So, it was uh definitely definitely following to to see it was going to happen. So, um but he’s a great kid, great player, and I’m sure he’ll do well in Minnesota. Patrick, you probably saw the injury to Connor, but Darren, how big a blow if if he is out a long time and we don’t know to the the team to the league and maybe even team Canada. Yeah, I mean, I’m not going to speculate on on what the injury is. We just saw that he wasn’t going to play tonight and uh you know, he’s had a great season and uh been a been a big um you know, producer for for the Blackhawks and also um you know, just from watching, it seems like he’s a he’s a threat every game. So yeah, yeah, you never want to see guys that are having success get injured and uh hopefully it’s not too bad. K, the finale of this season long road trip for you guys tonight. What part of your game needs to play well in order for you guys to end this one on a high note tonight? Um I think we’ve been playing pretty well on the road. Um you know, obviously we’ve had a good trip so far. Um you know, the game the other night would have been fun to uh finish some of our chances and make it more of a game, but um yeah, just have the same mentality that we’ve had on this on this whole road trip. uh find ways to win, get points, and uh you know, it would be um it’s been a good trip, but it’ be a great trip if we can find a way to uh to get a win tonight. So, we’ll definitely have to grind it out against this team. We know they took it to us in our building last game, so be nice to get him back. Following up on Pat’s question at the beginning, how do you reflect on the the milestone upcoming or or I know you maybe talked out on it, but do you even have time to reflect on it? Um yeah, I mean, we’ll see. We’ll see when when it uh you know when it comes when we come across it. But um you know for now just I think the the most important thing is just kind of focus on playing playing my game, playing the right way and uh not really worrying about you know milestones or or numbers or or things like that. So seems like when you start thinking about that stuff, you know, it’s it doesn’t go too well for you. So I think uh just focus on the game part of it. Skinner there with last night. How much does that change things with him out for you guys? Oh, well, first of all, we I feel for the kid like he’s had such a good year and uh for it to happen the way it happened is is not good for anybody, including all the fans that enjoy watching him. You know, as far as our game goes, there’s a lot of the game plan goes based on uh on what he does and how he does it. He’s done it real well this year. So, um, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’ve got, you know, 20 other guys that are very capable of playing in the league and and and work and I think Blash has them very organized. Um, so, uh, we’ll worry about our squad, not so much theirs. Seismic trade with Minnesota acquiring. How much do you follow things like that? And obviously there were rumors about New Jersey. Are you glad he’s in the West or? Yeah, we we you know, we’re like the players. We we follow that stuff all the time and um you know, we’re interested to see what’s happening and who went where and that type of stuff, but um he stayed in the West and um you know, that’s a good thing for us right now. And we can’t control anything outside our our locker room or environment. So, uh we just get ready to play here and that’s that’s our focus. Not name specific, but just in general. Do you and Steve sometimes talk about be nice if you could add some some depth here or star hero or Well, Steve and I talk all the time. Uh we talk every day, multiple times um uh throughout the days and and a lot of it spent talking about our team. You know, our jobs as a coaching staff is to get the most out of the players that we have. Uh it’s working for some, others, we haven’t got enough out of it. And uh the one thing I’ve learned in this league, especially around Christmas, everybody’s like Santa Claus. They all have a a wish list, you know. So, we talk, but it’s it’s it’s about getting the most out of what we have. Just a little housekeeping. Everybody available who’s been on the trip. Everybody available. Uh yeah, everybody’s available. And Gibson tonight. Gibson tonight. Yeah. With it being the last game of such a long trip, outside of fatigue, how do you kind of keep these guys motivated and getting up for a game like this one, just such a long trip like this one? Well, I tell them that Chicago came in about a month ago on the back end of a six-game road trip and beat us 5-1 in our own building. So, that’s what I tell them. In your most recent outing, albeit a loss, you guys obviously there are some positives to take away from that one. What did you like from that game that you could maybe build on for tonight? I I thought we skated better in that game and checked better in that game than we had in the previous three at least. And and ironically, we won those games. Uh we gave up less. Um it just so happens though that the puck went to the wrong people at the wrong time and and Edmonton’s very capable at finishing. So, um I liked a lot of our game there. Uh I didn’t like the results. Todd, if if Bedar is out and it’s speculation, if he’s out for any length, how big a blow, not only to them, but to the league and maybe even Canada with all the the talk that’s been going on? Yeah, there’s a lot of levels there. There’s obviously their own team that they have to u you know, replace a dominant player and and uh you know, from a fans perspective, that’s what we’re here for. We’re we’re here to play for the fans. They miss out on seeing a a dynamic player and and that’s leaguewide. Uh and then Hockey Canada um you know for the Olympics he he obviously has really committed himself to his game this year and Glashes and their staff have done a real good job and he’s reacted to it properly and I’m sure he was in the mix. Um let’s hope that he gets healthy tomorrow and uh continues to be in the mix. If I could just one more on Quinn Hughes because you just saw him. How much impact does a guy with that skill level have on a team? Um, how much does Quinn Hughes have on a team? You just saw him. Well, you win the Norris Trophy. Yeah. You know, I could turn that around and probably ask you how much impact did Nick Lstrom have on the the Red Wings. He won multiple Norris Trophies. Um, you know, but you don’t have to win a Norse Trophy to be have an impact on the team. I think Moider and and Simon and Benny and and even Axe in the now and in the future are going to have an impact on our team um without winning the trophy. So, um, you know, there’s a lot of good defenseman in the league.

Patrick Kane and Todd McLellan speak with the media following Detroit’s morning skate in Chicago on Saturday December 13, 2025.