Numbers don’t always tell the story of a hockey player’s contribution. In the case of Blackhawks veteran Kevyn Adams, they don’t even scratch the surface.
One assist in six games doesn’t tell about him helping a reassigned teammate carry his equipment to the parking lot or buying lunch for the team or uncharacteristically dropping his gloves to help fire up his club on the ice. It doesn’t tell about his long talks with young players, about shepherding them around on the road or fixing them dinner at his house.
No, the numbers don’t tell how Kevyn Adams might very well be the heart and soul of the Blackhawks and unquestionably their leader on and off the ice.
“It’s something that is very important, and it’s important to me,” said Adams, 34. “Especially with a team like this. It’s something that I really get excited about, so I do take it seriously.”
Loaded with new faces young and old, the Blackhawks are in need of some cohesion, and Adams provides it without forcing it on his teammates.
“I think the biggest thing is it has to be genuine and natural,” Adams said. “If you’re trying to force leadership, that’s not a good thing. I don’t think about things to do. I think about being the right person every day at the rink and doing the right things, and if I can do that maybe those things are part of it.”
Adams, who captured a Stanley Cup while with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and is a veteran of seven full NHL seasons, has taken particular interest in 2007 No. 1 overall draft pick Patrick Kane.
“He’s a natural fit for me to kind of help out, obviously, because we share the same hometown (Buffalo),” Adams said. “But he’s 18, and I think that sometimes to have someone in your corner that you know you can go to at anytime day in and day out can go a long way. For him, hopefully he feels that from me, and I think the quicker in this locker room that we look out for everyone, the better off we’re going to be.”
Adams’ guidance has helped Kane make the transition as a teenager fresh out of high school entering the NHL into a player who is having a major impact on his team.
“When I came in we were roommates in training camp, and I kind of drilled him with questions,” Kane said. “He’s been really good to me. He’s kind of taken me under his wing and showed me the ropes. He gave me rides to the rink when I needed them and was going out of his way to make dinner for me and a lot of things that you take for granted but really mean a lot to you.
“He really takes the leadership role seriously. He really wants this team to do well because he’s been there, he’s seen it all, he’s won a Stanley Cup and knows how you go through it.”
Kane isn’t the only rookie Adams has helped as the Hawks turn their attention to cultivating young talent in hopes of re-energizing the franchise.
“For Kevyn to put his arm around me and say, ‘Hey, you need anything, ask. If I can help any way, ask. If you want to get out of the hotel, come on over. If you want to sleep in my basement, come on over,'” said first-year forward Adam Burish, “you feel a part of it then because as a first-year guy sometimes you might think, ‘What are the guys going to think about me?’ Kevyn goes out of his way to help guys and that’s a special thing.”
Adams is also a key member of the Hawks’ penalty-killing unit and is one of the top forecheckers on the team.
“I feel really good about my game,” Adams said. “I feel like I’m skating well, and when I’m skating well my whole game falls into place. We’ve been creating some chaos out there, and killing penalties is one of my most important roles and we’ve been solid.”
———–
ckuc@tribune.com
