The Hawks' training camp is now a few days old, with a game (and win) under their belt. For the first time in years, following the Blackhawks or the NHL in Chicago is more than an underground cult. There was an announced crowd of over 18,000 for the first preseason game, largely due to the fact that season ticket packages included these games. Hey, you want to go to Wrigley Field, you've got to pay top dollar for minor-league hockey first.

One thing that is intriguing, especially to this humble blogger, is the idea of moving Partick Kane from Right Wing to Center. Kane says he's been a center all his life - interesting, considering he was a Right Winger in London. He seems like, size notwithstanding, he'd make a nice one. He's certainly got the on-ice vision and creative abiliey to center an effective scoring line. He'd have to win faceoffs with quickness instead of strength. Fortunately, he has a guy who had some success being an undersized center standing behind him on the bench - Denis Savard.

There's also rumors of the Hawks going after Washington's Michael Nylander. Bad, bad, bad. Why pick up a player who will be 36 on Opening Night, with 3 years left at $4.875M? They could have just hung onto Robert Lang. If the Hawks are serious about Kane as the #2 center, there's no reason to take an overpaid veteran.

Finally, there were other things that looked promising...Cam Barker partnered with Brian Campbell, Kyle Beach dropping the gloves with Seabrook in Rockford, the Hawks getting a couple power play goals.