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Oddly enough, a lot of the message board conversation on my thread of late has centered on the London Rookie Tourney and highly touted prospect Teuvo Teravainen. Teravainen (or “TT”) is a slick, playmaking forward who barely tips the scales at 170 pounds—often drawing comparisons to a past prospect who fit the same profile—Patrick Kane.

But, the more you compare the two, the more the comparisons seem unfair to TT. Many Hawk fans with short memories seem to assume Teravainen can make the jump from the lesser levels of hockey to the NHL much as Kane did in 2007. They forget a couple of things. The 2007 Hawks were a much worse club with many more, bigger holes than the 2014 Hawks.

They also overlook the fact that TT isn’t Patrick Kane. Similar in style. Yes. But equal in ability? Probably not.

Which leads to another thought—how great Kane is, and might yet still become.

We talk—I talk—a lot about how great Jonathan Toews is. And he is, arguably one of the top 2-3 players in the league, festooned with hardware from the WJC’s, 2 Olympics and 2 Stanley Cups. But the truth is, Toews is as good today as he likely ever will be.

And I suspect Kane, on the other hand, can and will still get better.

Good news for the Hawks and their fans. And when you factor in likely cap growth over the next 5 years ro so, those multi-gazillion dollar twin contracts don’t look quite so bad.

That’s right, Kane might have more upside to attain than the already great Jonathan Toews.

Physical maturity is part of it—Kane can and possibly will still add some pounds, where Toews entered the NHL nearly the best he is today.

Some of it also is the growing belief that Kane doesn’t necessarily like being seen as 1B. He wants the notoriety of being one of the game’s best—dare I say it—overall players. A Richard Trophy, and a Hart Trophy.

And that's all good.

TRAINING CAMP

While speculation lingers as to who will get dealt and when to get the Hawks under the salary cap (most speculation centers around Nick Leddy), training camp has started.

Remember, everything is all positives at this time of year, so temper the Great Patrick Kane/Brad Richards Chemistry talk with that. That's not to say the basic elements aren't there. They might well be. But . . . it's really early.

Former Hawk first rounder (3rd overall in 2004) Cam Barker has been invited to Hawk camp for a tryout. It's gotten a lot of talk. This was the guy drafted after Ovechkin and Malkin and before Andrew Ladd. Barker has battled back to get a shot and good for him. The question remains if he has the foot speed and smarts to make it, either with the Hawks or accept a deal with Rockford. He could always shoot the puck and contribute on the power play.

We'll see.

All for now,


JJ

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