An Open Letter to Patrick Kane: Please Sit Out the All-Star Game

Dear Kaner,

I am writing to you to express my reservations in you playing in the All-Star Game in Montreal this coming weekend.

Since your ankle injury against the Red Wings on Dec. 30, you have not played nearly to the caliber that you are capable of. After all, you only have one point in your last 11 games. This came in your first game back from injury, and you have been shut out in your last seven games.

Your injury has coincided with the Blackhawks going through one of their worst scoring droughts in recent memory, having scored just 14 goals in their past eight games (and seven of those came in back-to-back home wins over Nashville and Buffalo).

The team is 3-4-1 since you came back.

You look lost on the ice occasionally, and you definitely are not skating with the same finesse and speed that you were before you got hurt on that check against the Wings. It almost seems like you are being too tentative, or too cautious, trying not to get hurt again.

Not that I'm judging you for this. Hell, I have no idea how hockey players take licks into the boards and get right back up. Those hits hurt, and I envy the fact that players can play through pain like you do seemingly effortlessly.

I'm not questioning your toughness, or commitment to the team, but I just wanted to point out those observations that I have from watching you play both in person and on television.

It is with all of these things in mind that I'm writing you this letter.

I know that you have to be absolutely stoked to be starting in the All-Star Game at the tender age of 20, and I'm not suggesting that you should take the honor lightly. What I am saying is that, for the good of the team and for the good of your health, you should sit out the All-Star festivities this weekend.

You should feel no shame in making such a decision. Big names such as Sidney Crosby, Rick Nash, and Steve Mason are all sitting out the festivities to rest their bodies and get ready for the grueling second half of the season. You should definitely follow their lead.

Your team is in the midst of a bad stretch, and things will not get any easier from here.

The team's first eight games coming out of the break are going to be on the road, and physical teams like Calgary and Vancouver are on that schedule. Then, you get to play one home game, followed by three more road skates. This is a lot of strain on both body and mind.

You should take advantage of the week off and drop out of the game. Crosby did just today on the advice of doctors, and out of an abundance of common sense. His team needs him more than the All-Star Game needs him, and you should feel the same way about the Blackhawks.

I hope that you will re-consider your decision to play in this game. Drop out for the sake of the city, the team, and the hockey resurgence that you have helped usher in to Chicago.

Just remember this one thing: if you play in the game, and your performance continues to suffer, you'll have no one to blame but yourself.

Please don't play.

Signed,

Jim Neveau