Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane ‘totally happy’ with new deal

In an interview with Chicago sports-talk radio station 670 WSCR, Chicago Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane talked about the team, what he’s looking to improve on and his record contract extension.

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Kane led the Blackhawks to Game Seven of the Western Conference Finals, where Chicago fell to the eventual-champion Los Angeles Kings in double overtime. In more media interviews Wednesday, both Kane and fellow recent extended Jonathan Toews talked about their contracts in detail, saying they are optimistic for what room is left in the team’s payroll.

"“The core is in a good place right now and with the cap rising, we feel pretty comfortable about where our deals are to have good players around us,” Kane told the Chicago Tribune."

Both Kane and Toews signed record eight-year, $84 million contract extensions earlier this summer, something that Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman, who repeatedly insisted the team would retain both players prior to their signing the extensions.

"“I’ve always said that the most important thing for us is you can’t get star players,” Bowman said. “Once you do get ones, it’s so hard to win. You have star players here who have shown the ability to win and they want to be here. Most teams would die to have one of these players on their team and we have two of them.”"

Despite coming so close to reaching the Stanley Cup Finals once again, Kane told WSCR Thursday that he has some facets of his game he wants to improve on before next season.

With Toews and Kane locked up long-term, the pressure now lies on Bowman – who will have to juggle payroll with the two biggest contracts in NHL history while putting a championship-quality team on the ice.

"“It’s obviously a puzzle to put together, but we’re going to make it work,” Bowman said. “We’ve been able to do that in the past and I have a lot of faith in the ability to keep that going.”"