"The cast is off his wrist and the splint that followed will be removed soon. When it is, it will be all systems go for the Blackhawks' Patrick Kane.

The winger said Monday he's "a little ahead of schedule" in his recovery from July 19 surgery on his left wrist and hopes to play in up to four of the team's exhibition games.

Kane, who threw out the first pitch at the Cubs' game and later sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" with several Hawks teammates, said the splint will be removed Sept. 15.

"After that I should be able to do pretty much everything," he said. "I've been skating and working out. For a while there, I couldn't go full equipment with the cast (on). Once I got the cast off, that's when I started trying to get back into the flow quickly.

"I'm actually taking the splint off five times a day and doing different exercises with my wrist. It was really stiff at the beginning and now it's starting to feel a little bit better. That's exciting.""