In his rookie season, Patrick Kane had a plus/minus rating of minus-5. But it was almost minus-6 because of Taylor Swift.
At the "Showtime" panel at the eighth annual Blackhawks convention last weekend, former coach Denis Savard told a story of how Kane once let up a goal because he was distracted by the pop star, who was sitting behind the bench.
According to Second City Hockey, the story went like this:
Rookie Kane lost his guy on the backcheck, leading to a goal against. Savard yelled at him that he must have been distracted, looking at two pretty blonde girls who were sitting behind the bench.
After the game Kane was late getting to the team bus because he was talking to the same girls and got yelled at again. The next day Kane went to Savard’s office to give his defense: "You know who the two girls were? One of them was Taylor Swift."
Savard still didn’t know who Taylor Swift was and had to ask his wife.
UPDATE: After some digging, Savard may have confused the Predators goal with a play that almost led to another goal by the home team shortly after.
NHL
Highlights show that Kane wasn't on the ice when the Blackhawks allowed the lone Predators goal that night. Chicago was on the penalty kill.
However, three minutes later in full strength, Kane appears to lose his man and the Predators almost netted their second goal of the game, but Blackhawks goaltender Patrick Lalime made an outstanding save.
[NBC SPORTS SHOP: Gear up, Blackhawks fans!]
The Blackhawks indeed ended up defeating the Predators, 6-1, and Kane registered two assists.
Check out the two plays in the video below. (Skip to 4:00)
Regardless, the story is just priceless.
At the time, Kane and Swift were in their late teens, and the game took place on Valentine's Day in 2008. Imagine if that had sparked a relationship.
Ironically enough, Swift was in Chicago last weekend for her 1989 World Tour the same time Kane was in town for the convention.
Could you imagine if Kane brought the Stanley Cup front row to one of her concerts and distracted her during one of her songs?
That may have been a hard one to shake off.