A huge night for Patrick Kane as he reached a milestone that only four other Chicago Blackhawks players have ever reached.
There it is. He did it. Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane reached a very impressive milestone. He scored his 30th goal of the season and it was his 900th career point. It was his 342nd goal, combined with his 558 assists, for his 900th career point. He did it in his hometown of Buffalo against the Sabres, which is something to behold, as he has always had success against his hometown team. He did it in his 873rd game giving him a 1.03 points per game average. This also extends his point streak to 10 games.
Kane is the 5th player in team history to reach this milestone. Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull, Denis Savard, and Steve Larmer are the only other four. Kane is a very decorated player. He adds this milestone to his Hart Trophy, Art Ross Trophy, Conn Smythe Trophy and of course the three Stanley Cups. He will be a first ballot hall of fame player with his number retired and likely a statue of him outside the United Center.
Next on Kane’s agenda is the elusive 1000th point. He will likely reach that milestone sometime late next season if he stays healthy and at a production level similar to what he is currently doing. This is starting to force us to ask a few questions. Is he the greatest Blackhawks player in the history of the franchise? Is he the greatest American hockey player to ever live?
It is certainly possible that he will be the best player in franchise history by the time his career is all said and done. He has definitely been the best player during the best era of the team, so that is something to consider as well.
He probably is the best player in team history as he is putting up these offensive numbers during an era where it is very hard to score. He is a little over 500 points short of being the all-time leading scorer in Blackhawks history. If he comes close to that number during this era then he is absolutely the best player in team history. Winning also matters when evaluating these things and he has done a lot of that.
So is he the greatest American to ever live? He competes against the careers of Jeremy Roenick, Mike Modano, and others for that title. He has the title of greatest American player in the bag. During this incredibly hard era to score in, he will most likely be top 3 in scoring and in all likelihood, he will be the all-time leading American scorer. He is also the youngest American to reach the 900 career point mark! Like mentioned before, he has done a lot of winning. The only knock his career is that the American’s have not had much success internationally during his career.
That is not all his fault, the teams haven’t been as good as Canada through the years and they’ve come up just short. Outside of Kane, Joe Pavelski, Zach Parise, and Phil Kessel the American’s just haven’t had the same level of star power as the Canadians. And even though they don’t have any first-place finishes, they did win a silver medal in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the game went to overtime. It took a Sidney Crosby overtime goal to defeat Kane and the Americans that year. So it is not all bad as far as that is concerned. He will be considered the best American player by the time his career is over.
Kane was not done when he scored that goal for his 900th point. He added two assists and an empty net goal for a four-point night as the Blackhawks defeated the Sabres 7-3. So 903 points on the career. He has many more in from of him in the remainder of his awesome career.