Denis Savard once stopped Patrick Kane from talking to Taylor Swift

Over the past year, Taylor Swift has been the talk of the town. The singer was named TIME Magazine’s Personality of the Year, an honor that recognized her larger-than-life impact on popular culture in 2023.

Whether you listen to her music or not, I’m sure you’ve heard of her on more than one occasion this year.

Inevitably, then, she’s been the talk of the town since the start of the year, and on Thursday evening, Denis Savard revealed a rather comical anecdote involving the singer and… Patrick Kane.

In fact, some fifteen years ago, Savard, who was Kane’s coach in Chicago at the time, cut short a discussion between Kane and Swift, thus preventing his player from finishing speaking to her.

Savard also spoke to the singer at the time, telling her that “there are rules to follow on a hockey team”.

In fact, at the time (we’re guessing 2008), Kane and the Blackhawks were playing a game in Nashville, where the singer was based at the start of her career. Savard was very strict that his players had to be ready to leave by the time he entered the bus.

The next day, Kane went to see his trainer to explain that it was Taylor Swift, who was already quite popular at the time. Savard bluntly replied that he didn’t “give a damn”, but in fact, he didn’t know who the singer was.

Who knows, if it hadn’t been for Denis Savard’s intervention, Patrick Kane might have ended up as Taylor Swift’s Travis Kelce. It wouldn’t have hurt to give the NHL some exposure, anyway: if the NFL, which is a much bigger league, has been gaining popularity for months because of the singer, imagine the impact she would have had on the NHL.

A rather unusual story on Savard’s part, then, which is sure to provoke a reaction in a year in which the singer has created a buzz like few others have. Perhaps if it hadn’t been for Denis Savard, things might have turned out differently…

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