Patrick Kane Is Quietly One of the Best Players in the Game

CHICAGO, IL -- And, we're back!

I took a bye week as the Blackhawks did, since there wasn't much to talk about Hawks-wise (or really hockey-wise, to be fair), and the All-Star Game hadn't really happened yet.

It was a really, really fun weekend for hockey, and I personally love the All-Star Game every year. I know some people want it completely done away with, and as I think I've mentioned before, some people just hate fun. The stars were all out in full-force, and a lot of guys (and girls!) put on a great show.

But, something--no, someone--kept coming up in almost any interview or conversation with players, analysts, color commentators, or social media participants.

That someone was none other than Patrick Kane.

Now, let me preface this by saying this shouldn't be too surprising or anything--he was one of the older players there, and on top of that, he's played in eight All-Star Games now, which was the most of any of the players at the event this weekend. Plus, you know--three Stanley Cups, Conn Smythe trophy, Hart trophy, Top 100 NHL players list, Calder trophy--the usual.

That's more than enough to be talked about.

This felt different, though, mostly because legitimately everyone talked about how good he is, how influential his game is, and most of all, how he's probably the best American hockey player in the league right now and likely fighting to be the best American to ever play the game.

I'm not going to sit here and say that Kane is underrated, because he's not--he's definitely not overrated, either. People talk about him even when the Hawks go through bad stretches, because he's usually still making highlight-reel plays.

To me, that definitely qualifies a guy to be a top player in the league. But, I think what's different this year compared to most years is that the Hawks are, well, consistently not good. They're sitting at the bottom of the league despite the recent influx of power play goals and more solid goaltending. Why would you talk about a guy on a team that's floundering?

That's a fair argument. Nowadays, it's guys like Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Pettersson, Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and David Pastrnak that are getting the attention, as they should. All of those players, and more I'm not mentioning, are crazy good this season, and--save for McDavid and Pettersson--their teams are, too.

Taking one glance at Patrick Kane's stats this season suggest that he's hanging with the best in the league, just very, very quietly.

As of the All-Star break, Kane sits at 29 goals, 42 assists for a total of 71 points through 50 games--which puts him at fifth overall in points, only a handful of points behind Gaudreau, McDavid, and Rantanen, who are all tied for second. He's also sitting in fifth place in goals--tied with, you guessed it, McDavid and Gaudreau.

A closer look into his stats and you'll see that he's only a handful of shots behind MacKinnon for his shots on goal (SOG) this season, with 203 over 50 games, averaging around four shots per game. For reference, MacKinnon has 216 SOG, averaging about 4.5 shots per game.

Want to put it into perspective even further?

Through 49 games, McDavid, essentially the next coming of Christ if you ask some hockey fans and analysts, has 160 SOG this season, which means he's firing about 3.25 shots per game. Keep in mind that this stat doesn't take into account a lot of chances, but still--that's a pretty big margin, and it means that when Kane does have the puck, he will make goaltenders pay for it.

Not buying the SOG argument? Sure, that's fine, it's a weird stat--probably just as weird as plus/minus.

Since the start of the season, Kane has lead the Hawks forwards in time on ice (TOI) with an average of 22:03 minutes per game. The only person ahead of him? Duncan Keith, known workhorse, with an average TOI of 22:41 minutes. Again, to put it into perspective, in the past couple of season, Kane has usually only averaged around 20 minutes of ice time, and while that may not seem like a big difference, it really is. Coach Jeremy Colliton probably leans on Kane a little more than he should, but it's really paid off this season.

While the Hawks are still lingering towards the bottom of the league, their top power play unit has been on fire lately with him on it, and he's putting up important third-period minutes. He seems to be thriving with the added minutes.

Honestly, his game hasn't looked better, either--he's currently on pace for somewhere in the ballpark of 110 points this season, which would break his previous career high of 106 from his MVP 2015-16 season.

Even very recently, over his past ten games, he's been rather impressive:

• 8-game point streak (that could continue tonight in Buffalo)
• 7 goals, 14 assists for 21 points
• 4 power play goals, 5 power play assists for 9 power play points
• +2 rating (one of the better stretches he's had, since he's been at a -4 most of the season)

I'm not saying that he should be the league MVP or anything--he would deserve it if it weren't for the Kucherovs, the McDavids, the Gaudreaus, the Skinners. But, he's damn good, and really, not enough people are talking about it.

If you want to sit here and pretend that Patrick Kane doesn't exist, or refuse to acknowledge his importance to this team, this league, or American hockey, that's fine. But, damn, you are missing out on some absolutely outstanding hockey.

I've been a longtime fan of his, and seeing him thrive this season has certainly been a bright spot. I really do hope he hits that 100-point threshold again, and I hope he keeps climbing and shocking the hockey world.

EDIT: If you didn't believe me that Kane's been on fire this month (and this season), the NHL just named him the third star of the month of January. So, boom.

The Hawks are finally back tonight! They're taking on the Sabres who have been less-hot as of late, but still a threat--they have a great goaltending tandem, and their offense has been unreal this season. Hopefully the Blackhawks can keep the red machine rolling to a three-game winning streak (to my knowledge, they haven't won more than two games in a row yet this season) and start back on the right track. They're a little far off from playoff contention, but salvaging a terrible start is better than ending in a free fall.

Let's do this again. Are you in?