Scott Powers, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Saad, Richards, Kane jell from the start

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Stephen Johns doesn't have an NHL game under his belt yet, but he knows enough about hockey to realize Brandon Saad, Brad Richards and Patrick Kane were clicking as a line on the first day of Chicago Blackhawks training camp.

"It was pretty tough to be matched up against those guys," Johns said after facing the line in a morning scrimmage at the Compton Family Ice Arena at Notre Dame on Friday. "Obviously, we all know the skill Kane has. Even today, they looked like they fed off each other pretty well. They scored two goals. Yeah, looked pretty good to me."

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville didn't waste any time in seeing what he had in a line of Saad, Richards and Kane. The first time they took the ice together Friday was for the camp's first scrimmage, and it didn't take long for them to get on the same page.

The three players took turns in holding on to the puck, waiting for the other two to find open space and then either creating something off that for themselves or for their teammates. The line played together in scrimmages on the day and created three goals. Saad connected with Kane for one, Richards hit Kane for another, and defenseman Nick Leddy scored the other with the line on the ice.

Quenneville couldn't have asked for a better first impression of the line.

"First scrimmage, they had the puck a lot," Quenneville said. "Kaner was very noticeable. First scrimmage, I thought he was extremely dangerous, fun to watch. I think Brad kind of probably had a feeling and appetite, ‘Well, this could be fun playing with this guy.' I thought Brad was excellent in the second scrimmage and started trying to see some things, developing what potentially could be plays, you know, having Kaner, having that patience, drawing guys to him and then slipping it through, give and go type of thing. Could lead to a real nice line. I thought they were very dangerous, had a lot of opportunities. It was a good first day for sure."

Richards, who signed a one-year, $2 million deal in the offseason, has been around the NHL for 13 seasons, but he still felt some nerves heading into the first day of training camp.

"I've watched enough hockey to know how good they are and how good this team's been," said Richards, who played the last three seasons for the New York Rangers. "For me, as many games as I've played, I had butterflies today because it's a new team and I want to get off to a good start and I want to prove that I've got tons of hockey left in my career. Great opportunity for me. It was an exciting day for me."

Kane had similar feelings about the first day. He's gotten to know Richards a bit in the offseason by living in the same building in Chicago, carpooling to informal practices and being on the ice together. Kane has especially been impressed by Richards' ability to create plays out of nothing.

"I thought we were good," Kane said. "Richards makes some plays you don't really expect, so he's definitely an offensive talent. He has a great mind for the game, and I'm excited to get a chance to play with not only him but Saader, too. We had some nice plays out there. For the first day of camp, I thought it went pretty well. Hopefully keep getting better and improving.

"Everything's different. Sometimes you click right away, sometimes you have to get adjusted to what one another does on the ice and what each other's tendencies are. For the first day, I though the chemistry was pretty good for all three of us. Looking to build on that and find out more about each other as we go on here."

Quenneville believes one of the keys for Richards to play with Kane is to understand Kane likes to possess the puck. It was something Kane showed at times during the scrimmages on Friday.

"I think a lot of times traditionally your centers have the puck more," Quenneville said. "In the situation with Kaner, you want him to have the puck. I think that's something you're probably going to learn. Don't be surprised when it ends up on your stick, and knowing when it is on your stick it's not a bad idea to get it to him as quickly as possible. He's got a tremendous patience level with it. I think that's probably something Brad [hasn't had] the luxury of having a Kaner to play with throughout his career, but he's had some good wingers along the way. I'm sure he enjoyed today."

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