Hockey Hall of Famer, Denis Savard, has hilariously revealed how he may have blown Patrick Kane’s shot with Taylor Swift from their time together, as the head coach and player of the Chicago Blackhawks, respectively.
Savard, who coached Chicago from 2006-09, which were Kane’s first two years in the NHL, said he cut short his former star player’s chat with Swift as the team was boarding the bus.
He added on NBC Sports Chicago’s broadcast of the Blackhawks game on Friday night that he didn’t want to impose many rules with a young team, at the time, but that there was one protocol that every player and member of the coaching staff had to follow.
‘I said to the trainers, make sure all the players are on the bus,’ Savard said.
‘I want to be the last one on the bus and once, I get on the bus, that way we go.’
Patrick Kane blew his shot at dating Taylor Swift due to his ex-Blackhawks coach, Denis Savard
After beating the Predators in Nashville in 2008 – most likely a 6-1 win in February of that year – in which Kane’s defensive lapse played a part in the Blackhawks’ only goal conceded in that game, the coach noticed his young star talking to two girls right outside the team bus.
Savard, who was already a little annoyed with Kane over his erroneous performance, called out the player in front of both ladies.
‘I stop, and I go, ”Really?” I said, ”Let’s go now,” Savard said, as Kane’s flirting was what holding up the team bus from leaving. ‘No, no. Excuse me, ladies, they’re rules on a hockey team. He needs to be on the bus now.’
Kane caved in, joining his teammates on the bus, but he showed up to his coach’s door the next day to have a conversation over what happened before he boarded the coach.
‘He goes ”Savy.” I said, ”What’s up?” He goes, ‘So you know, last night?’ He goes, ”That was Taylor Swift,” Savard said. ‘I go OK. I don’t care.’
Kane and Savard posing for a photo during the Blackhawks Victory Parade and Rally in 2013
Kane now plays for the Detroit Red Wings following a short stint with the New York Rangers
The 62-year-old, 1993 Stanley Cup champion went on to disclose that he had to call his wife to ask who Swift was.
At the time, the singer was just breaking through in the music industry, after the release of her second studio album, Fearless.
Swift is now dating two-time Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce and has gone onto win 12 Grammy awards since that conversation with Kane.
Kane signed a $2.75 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings in November, after a short stint with the New York Rangers last season. He won three Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks, for who he played for between 2007 and this year.
Kane, like Savard, is one of the 100 Greatest NHL players. In 2020, he became the youngest U.S. player to reach 1,000 career regular season points at age 32.