CHICAGO — One of the greatest players in the history of the Blackhawks, who was traded to the Rangers this past season, is going to have a delay to the start of his 17th NHL season.

Patrick Kane, who is currently a free agent, has undergone a hip resurfacing on Thursday, his agent Pat Brisson told Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet Canada. It’s expected that he’ll miss 4-to-6 months due to the procedure, which could keep him out for the start of the 2023-2024 NHL season.

Brisson told Friedman that Kane “wants to play for a long time,” but this represents the most serious injury of the nine-time All-Star’s career.

This comes after the former NHL MVP played hockey somewhere other than Chicago in the league in the 2022-2023 campaign. Playing on the final year of his contract, the Blackhawks dealt Kane to the New York Rangers ahead of the trade deadline to give him a chance to play for a Stanley Cup.

He would take the ice for 19 regular season games for New York, scoring five goals with seven assists. Kane’s stay in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Rangers would be short as the team was eliminated by the Devils in the first round despite a goal and five assists for the forward.

It was an unsual moment for Blackhawks’ fans to watch Kane take the ice for any team other than their own after his trade. One of the greatest players in the history of the franchise, the forward helped the team to their greatest on-ice era, one in which they made the playoffs nine-straight times and won three Stanley Cups.

Kane finished with 449 goals and 779 assists in 1,161 regular season games with 52 scores and 80 helpers in 136 games.