The Detroit Red Wings have options when it comes to Patrick Kane's future

Patrick Kane is off to a glorious start with the Detroit Red Wings despite the team's 3-9-1 record when he's in the lineup. In fairness, since joining the organization, Detroit has suffered a rash of bad luck and injuries. That is not overlooking the fact that the team has struggled mightily on the defensive side of things as well. The Red Wings have allowed far too many odd-man rushes and have lacked discipline when pinching in the offensive zone; plus, they have struggled with defensive zone coverage over the past three weeks. Oh, and Detroit was without their top two netminders for quite some time and failed to get any quality goaltending from James Reimer, who had been forced into the starter role.

With all of that said, Kane has paced the Detroit Red Wings offense upon joining the team with six goals and 13 points over 13 games. He's also a minus-3 on the year while averaging over 19 minutes of ice time per night. He also maintains a Corsi For Percentage of 50.2 during even strength situations.

Patrick Kane has found his stride with the Detroit Red Wings.

We are just starting to see the whole picture in Detroit. Right as Kane joined the Red Wings, second-line center J.T. Compher was sidelined with an injury, and then the scary situation with Dylan Larkin occurred against Ottawa. That left Andrew Copp to center Kane and Alex DeBrincat, which was not ideal. Not only that, head coach Derek Lalonde was forced to elevate Joe Veleno, who usually skates as the fourth-line center, to a second-line role. The Red Wings are seemingly beginning to get healthy, and if they want to shelf some of the Kane trade chatter, that is sure to commence if Detroit continues its downward spiral, they need to begin stringing some victories together.

Recently, Lalonde went back to the blender to create his lineup skating Compher between Kane and DeBrincat. The move places top center Larkin between Lucas Raymond and veteran David Perron as the Detroit Red Wings look to deploy a more balanced offensive attack. The trio of Larkin, Kane, and DeBrincat have performed great together, and they packed a punch, but it left the remainder of the Red Wings lineup a bit exposed. The three talented forwards still work together on the team's top power-play unit and late in games when Detroit is trailing as Lalonde looks to spark his offense.

Kane, 35, carefully weighed his options this fall before joining the Red Wings. He was drawn to Detroit after their impressive start to the season and his familiarity with sniper DeBrincat. DeBrincat and Kane are also close friends off the ice, which may play a role in whether Kane chooses to stay in Detroit or chase his fourth Stanley Cup elsewhere. If Kane feels the Detroit Red Wings are close to competing for a postseason run, perhaps as soon as next season, he may be open to signing a contract extension with the club and allowing Yzerman one off-season to make the necessary improvements knowing he'd have that Kane/DeBrincat connection together right from the get-go next season.

There are two sides of the coin to consider when it comes to Patrick Kane.

Steve Yzerman signed Patrick Kane to a prorated one-year deal that only costs the Detroit Red Wings a mere $2 million in real money. With Kane returning from hip resurfacing surgery, there had been some concerns about how well he'd perform and if his body would hold up through the rigorous NHL schedule. So far, so good for the future Hall of Famer.

The other side of the coin is, would Yzerman look to trade Kane ahead of the NHL trade deadline if the Detroit Red Wings weren't in or near playoff contention? With how Kane has performed this season, his trade value will be substantial, which will only help the Red Wings down the road with whatever future draft capital and prospects he'd garner in return. For the 'trade him at the deadline and try to re-sign him in the off-season' crowd, it doesn't always work out that way. Kane may enjoy his new location and sign an extension there. Wherever he finishes this season, that team will have an opportunity to exclusively negotiate a contract extension with the superstar before he hits the open market.