Chicago Blackhawks: Patrick Kane is in a league of his own

Patrick Kane is the face of the Chicago Blackhawks and has helped keep the team relevant well after they stopped making the playoffs.

Patrick Kane was one of the only reasons the Blackhawks made the playoffs this past season. He has been the brightest piece of a team that has failed to keep up with him, and yet NHL Network ranked him as the fifth-best winger in the NHL.

Kane has been the lone all-star from the Chicago Blackhawks the past few seasons. He has managed to keep his name in the conversation for different trophies, even though the ‘Hawks have not won a postseason series since 2015.

Kane’s ranking as the fifth best winger in the NHL is fine, but honestly, he should have been higher. The players above him were Artemi Panarin, Nikita Kucherov, David Pastrnak, and Alex Ovechkin. They are all great wingers, but Kane is doing more with less.

Kucherov is on a team full of stars. Ovechkin’s roster has been competing in the playoffs for the past decade. Pastrnak’s team captured the president’s trophy this past season, and Panarin is on a team of young talented players. On the other hand, Patrick Kane was playing with a rookie throughout most of last season in Kirby Dach and spent time with players like Alexander Nylander. He never had consistent linemates

Kane has constantly found a way to elevate everyone else around him while also being successful in his own right. Just check out his stats over the course of his career, and you probably would not be able to notice that the team missed the playoffs in 2018 and 2019.

Sure all four of the players above Kane on the list of the top 20 wingers are great, but Kane is in a league of his own at the end of the day. Kane has found a way to be successful no matter who he is played with, and his love for the game is second to none as he has constantly elevated his play each offseason.

While Kane is 31, it still seems like his prime years are ahead of him, hopefully, all with Chicago. What did you think of the list of the top 20 wingers in the NHL? Seeing a former Blackhawk in Artemi Panarin at number one definitely did make me flinch.