Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane to captain Team USA at 2019 Worlds

Patrick Kane will follow up one of the best seasons of his NHL career by leading Team USA in the IIHF World Championships next month.

USA Hockey announced today that he will be the team’s captain for the second consecutive year, and the rest of the roster will be announced this week.

Kane said last week he was considering playing in Worlds again “just to play some more hockey, play some meaningful hockey.” He was part of the national team development program as a teenager and will represent the United States for the eighth time. He was on the bronze-winning team last year.

“It was a really fun tournament for me to play with some good players and even have more of a leadership role as well with that team,” he said. “It was a young team and a lot of fun playing there, too. And you’re also representing your country, playing for the USA. So that was exciting, too. USA’s never won that tournament, so it’d be fun to be part of the first team that did.”

Blackhawks teammates Alex DeBrincat and Brandon Saad could be joining him. Both said they had been invited to play.

Kane put up a career-high 110 points this season, including 44 goals. DeBrincat was second on the Hawks with 41 goals, and Saad scored 23.

The tournament runs May 10-26 and will be hosted by Slovakia.