Blackhawks, Oilers could have 'amazing' series, Kane says

Patrick Kane said the Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers could have an "amazing" series in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.

"From a fan's perspective, for sure, it would be an amazing round to watch," the Blackhawks forward said Thursday. "Teams probably don't have their systems, their defensive structure completely dialed in. Even though you have time in training camp to try and do that, I think you can never really simulate a true game situation. I think you always see that in the beginning of the season where there's a lot of scoring to start the season. And it might be a similar situation when you come back, it'll be a high-scoring series and a lot of offense. We'll see what happens."

Kane was cautious in talking about the series because some hurdles have to be cleared. The NHL and NHL Players' Association announced Thursday that training camps will open July 10 under Phase 3 of the Return to Play Plan, provided that medical and safety conditions allow and the parties have reached an agreement on resuming play. The length of training camp and the start date for the qualifiers (Phase 4) has not been determined.

The Return to Play Plan, announced May 26, includes 24 teams, 12 from each conference, competing for the Stanley Cup. It will begin with the qualifiers, which include 16 teams playing eight best-of-5 series, and a round-robin among the top four teams in each conference to determine seeding for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The qualifiers will be held at two hub cities to be identified -- one for the 12 Eastern Conference teams and one for the 12 Western Conference teams.

The NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, and facilities were closed.

The Oilers (37-25-9, .585 points percentage), the No. 5 seed in the West, will play the No. 12 seed Blackhawks (32-30-8, .514) with the winner advancing to the playoffs.

"It would be amazing to get a fair shake at it," Kane said, "to be able to come back and play for another chance to get into the playoffs and playing a round like that against some amazing players, hockey that could be highly entertaining. I don't want to give the message across that we're not excited about playing. I think all of us on the Blackhawks, we're excited that we were one of the last teams in and that we have the chance to be able to play for a playoff spot and hopefully go on a run to try and win the Stanley Cup."

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The Blackhawks won two of three games against the Oilers in the regular season. Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl led the NHL with 110 points (43 goals, 67 assists) in 71 games to win the Art Ross Trophy, and Oilers forward Connor McDavid was second with 97 points (34 goals, 63 assists) in 64 games.

"That's a team we've had great games against," Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy said. "Obviously you know they'll have a lot of eyes on them with a couple of star players that were up for talks as the best guys in the League this year. Just to play against them will be a lot of fun. It's someone that we haven't played as much as some of our [Central] Division teams, so it will be cool to see that matchup, how things will turn out."

Chicago coach Jeremy Colliton said he expects McDavid and Draisaitl will play on separate lines "and we'll probably have to check them by committee."

"Both of those guys, those top guys, they take pretty long shifts, so we're going to have to use multiple lines to play against them," Colliton said. "It'll be a big challenge for our guys."

The Oilers were tied with the St. Louis Blues for 14th in goals per game at 3.14 this season; the Blackhawks were 18th at 2.97. Kane led Chicago with 84 points (33 goals, 51 assists) in 70 games, and center Jonathan Toews was second with 60 points (18 goals, 42 points) in 60 games.

"Obviously, they have a lot of great offensive players," Blackhawks forward Alex DeBrincat said. "I think they can be very deadly. I think that's something we need to focus on. We have a lot of highly [skilled] offensive guys as well, so it should be a really good matchup."

Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said he expects defenseman Calvin de Haan, who had surgery on his right shoulder Dec. 27, to be ready for training camp. Bowman didn't have an update on forward Andrew Shaw (concussion), who hasn't played since Nov. 30, and said he would know more in the coming weeks regarding the progress of defenseman Brent Seabrook (surgery on right shoulder Dec. 27; surgery on both hips in January and February), and forward Zack Smith (back surgery March 6).