At U.S. Olympic orientation camp, Kane seeking ‘opportunity’

PLYMOUTH, Mich. — Entering his 19th NHL season, Patrick Kane has seemingly won it all: three Stanley Cups, a scoring title, regular season MVP and playoff MVP. But there is one achievement the 36-year-old still covets.

“I look at my career and what I’ve accomplished and the one thing that’s kind of missing is a gold in best on best,” Kane said on Tuesday. “So, it’d be fun to have that opportunity.”

Kane, who turns 37 in November, is right on the cusp as he was among the 44 players Team USA invited to their Olympic orientation camp this week in Plymouth, Michigan. The 2026 Games in Milan will mark the first time the NHL sends players to the Olympics in 12 years. Kane, now a Detroit Red Wing after 16 years in Chicago, is looking for his third Olympic appearance; the winger was on the 2010 team in Vancouver (which won silver, after falling to rival Canada in a thrilling gold medal game) and 2014 team in Sochi.

Several players admitted they are rooting for Kane to make the team. “I think every guy here is a Patrick Kane fan,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. “For a lot of younger guys, myself included, we all looked up to him, we all wanted to be Patrick Kane. He’s a very big deal for our sport, and especially USA Hockey.”

Kane, however, doesn’t want to be selected based on past laurels or name recognition.

“I don’t want that to be a thing either, where you’re getting selected for the team because of all that stuff,” Kane said. “You want to be selected for the player you are now and what you can bring to the team now.”

Team USA General Manager Bill Guerin told ESPN last winter that Kane was among the final and most difficult cuts for the Four Nations team. Guerin personally met with Kane at the rink in Detroit to deliver the news.

“You respect the gesture of them coming up and telling in person, but you’re still disappointed by it,” Kane said. “And I remember we played Pittsburgh maybe a week or two later, and then [former coach Mike] Sullivan wanted to talk to me after too. It was just like, it kind of rubs it in even more.”

Kane said he ultimately understood why he wasn’t selected: in his first full season back from hip resurfacing surgery, Kane scored just three goals and 10 points in his first 20 games before the rosters were due.

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“I didn’t really expect to make it just the way I was playing how many good American players there are,” Kane said. “Definitely don’t want that to happen again where I’m in a situation where I’m not playing that great and you get left off because of that, right? I just want to put myself in the best position I can and make it, I want to have a good start to the year and maybe force their hand a little bit.”

In some ways, Kane was a victim of timing. The Red Wings fired coach Derek Lalonde in favor of Todd McLellan on Dec. 26, and Kane finished the season with 16 goals and 45 points over his final 43 games.

“Nothing against Derek Lalonde, but it was just a different system. We played very safe, there wasn’t too much risk right in our game,” Kane said. “I’m not blaming it at all on that. I didn’t play that well either. But we made a coaching exchange, we got more aggressive, our power play started heating up. It was fun to see things take off and have the trust from the coach down the stretch where I was playing meaningful minutes.”

Kane said he still tuned in to Four Nations, cheering on the Americans from vacation in Mexico, and was impressed by how high-level the competition was. “I found myself in Cabo watching TV; I was probably the only person there doing that,” he said.

Team USA has until early January to submit their roster for Milan. The Olympics allow for 25-player rosters, compared to the 23 allotted for Four Nations. Kane and defenseman Ryan McDonough are the only holdovers from the 2014 Olympic team that were invited to this week’s camp.

America has not won men’s Olympic gold since the famous 1980 Miracle on Ice team. Despite losing to Canada in the Four Nations final, the Americans are riding some momentum: In May, the U.S. took home gold at the World Championship for the first time since 1933.

“I’ve been to orientation camps in 2010 and 2014 and it was the same message everyone brings up the 1980 team and how long ago it was,” Kane said. “So, that’s all it is for expectations: gold and trying to get over the hump of Canada.”

Kane has other milestones within reach this season: he is eight goals away from scoring his 500th career goal, 32 points away from surpassing Mike Modano for second-most points in the NHL by an American-born player, and 48 points away from Brett Hull as the all-time leader.

Meanwhile, he’s tasked with helping the Red Wings snap their nine-year playoff drought, which is the longest in franchise history. Kane re-signed on a one year, incentive-heavy deal in Detroit this summer where he is paid $3 million in base salary and up to $4 million in additional bonuses.

“It could be a great year if I get off to a good start,” Kane said. “And to make the Olympic team here and that would really be a cherry on top.”