Through 20 Games, Patrick Kane is Better Than Ever
Patrick Kane’s off season didn’t go as planned. Being the center of controversy, there was a chance that the Chicago Blackhawks wouldn’t of had Kane on the roster to begin tye 2015-16 season. If you want to read about Patrick Kane’s off-season however, a simple Google search can accomplish your goal, I am here to talk about how Patrick Kane is better than ever.
How remarkable is it that Patrick Kane was able to put his nightmarish offseason behind him to lead the NHL in points after the first 20 games of the season? How remarkable is it that Kane is currently in on his longest point streak of his career (15 games)? How remarkable is it that Kane is on pace for 127 points this season?
It’s all remarkable, but it shouldn’t be surprising at all if you watched him progress into one of the top five scorers in the NHL today.
He has gradually taken huge steps forward offensively — as well as defensively — becoming an elite player. While he was always a star, there was always a big gap between Kane and the other elite scorers around the league (Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin). Now not only has Kane closed that gap, so far in 2015, he’s leaped them.
Looking at last season, Kane was on pace for 86 points, if he didn’t suffer his broken clavicle late in the year. That 86 points would havery been second behind Jamie Benn’s 87 to lead the league. The year before he was on pace for 82 points before injuries shortened his season, good for fifth in the league.
While there is certainly growth and maturity to Kane’s game, and now looking to record his fourth straight point per game season, you cannot discount the role his linemates play in his dominate performance. With the addition of Artem Anisimov and rookie Artemi Panarin, Kane is on pace for his best season as a pro.
Satchel Price from Second City Hockey has nailed Kane’s rise to the top scorer in the league.
The result is that Kane’s numbers likely won’t take much of a step back, at least from luck’s side. The forward is currently on pace for 56 goals, 73 assists and a grand total of 129 points. Even if he only shoots 14 percent for the rest of the season with the same shot rate, he’ll still finish with a career-high 46 goals and likely crack the 100-point barrier for the first time in his career.
Kane’s breakout is proving to be an example of the power of putting an in-his-prime superstar in the right position to succeed. The Blackhawks finally have figured out the right mix with Panarin and Anisimov flanking Kane on the second line. It’s quickly become one of the most productive in the league, with Kane leading the show as the game’s most prolific scorer. I mean, seriously, recording a point on 56 percent of a team’s goals is ridiculous. Seguin, with 27 points, has only recorded a point on 39 percent of the Stars’ goals this season. Nobody leans on a single player for scoring more than the Chicago has on Kane.
While shooting 14% would be an improvement over his career mark of 12.1%, he has shot nearly 15% over the last three seasons and it wouldn’t be obscene to assume he would continue that pace with a better line pairing. Notching 127 points might be too much to accomplish — since no one has amounted that much since the 1996 season — but if he and his linemates stay relatively healthy it’s not out of the question for Kane to score 35 goals and break the 100-point mark for the first time in his career.
It will be exciting to watch as Kane attempts to keep this pace, and equally exciting to watch as the bread man and Anisimov help along the way. A quarter of the season in, it certainly is creating a better storyline than the way the year began.
