Written by Brandon Hunter at The Sports Quotient
All stats in this article are from Hockey-Reference.com, and include games up until the evening of December 10.
Patrick Kane scored a goal on Thursday against the Nashville Predators to extend his point streak to 24 games.
The Chicago Blackhawks lost Thursday’s matchup 5-1, which gives them a record of 15-10-4 on the season, fourth best in the western conference central division.
Kane, currently in his ninth professional season, is considered by many to be the best active American player in the NHL, but how does Kane rank among America’s all-time best?
When the topic of all-time great American-born hockey players arises, several legendary Americans come into the discussion. Mike Modano, Chris Chelios, Brian Leetch and many others have résumés that put them among America’s best, but a look further into Patrick Kane’s stats will put him on the short list of American greats.
Since he was drafted in 2007, Kane has accumulated 600 points in the NHL. In that time, he has scored 222 goals in only 604 games. These numbers put him in the conversation as one of the league’s best scorers.
In his first eight seasons in the NHL, Kane has seen success in the regular season as well as in the playoffs. Kane won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 2008 as the NHL’s rookie of the year and has been selected as an all-star four times. Leetch is the only of the three previously listed Americans that matched Kane’s number of all-star selections in his first eight years.
In the eight seasons prior to the Blackhawks’ selection of Kane as the number one overall pick in the 2007 NHL draft, the Blackhawks won only 239 games and lost 306 games. In that time, the Blackhawks only made the playoffs once, In the eight seasons since the acquisition of Kane, the Blackhawks have won 357 games and lost only 191 games. During Kane’s tenure, the Blackhawks have made the playoffs seven times.
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