The best player in Blackhawks history is easily Patrick Kane

Picking the best player in Chicago Blackhawks franchise history is pretty easy. It is Patrick Kane.

With all due respect to Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull, they just cannot match the number of times Kane has hoisted the Stanley Cup over his head. Mikita and Hull only got to do it once. Kane did it three times.

Mikita and Hull (two each) may have one more Hart Trophy than Kane (just one), but they do not have a Conn Smythe on their resumes.

Going with Kane as the greatest Blackhawk of all time may have some recency bias. It also has a championship bias as the ultimate difference maker.

The record book for goals scored in Blackhawks history reads Hull with 604, Mikita with 541, and Kane with 446. Mikita and Kane are one-two in franchise history when it comes to assists and points scored.

Kane will certainly join Hull and Mikita in the Hall of Fame once he retires. He will likely have his No. 88 hanging alongside Mikita's No. 21 and Hull's No. 9 from the United Center rafters. It would also make sense to build a statue of Kaner in the United Center Atrium someday to go alongside Mikita and Hull's.

That is why the number of championships makes the difference.

All three have a case as the greatest Blackhawks players of all time, but Kane won more when it mattered. It is not like they got there on their own. This is a team game after all. All three played with some great players to get there. Kane won the Conn Smythe in 2013 as a sign of leading his team to winning the Stanley Cup. Plus, he led the 2015 playoffs in scoring.

Kane never lost a Stanley Cup Finals. Hull went 1-1, and Mikita was 1-2.

Kane also had two 100-point seasons, where Hull only had one and Mikita had none.

Also, Kane is considered the best American-born player of all time. He earned that designation when American hockey is nearing the same level as Canada. American hockey is competing for World Championships and Olympic gold medals these days.

Kane also scored arguably the greatest goal in franchise history with the game-winner in Game 6 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final. He ended the team's 49-year title drought with a great degree of difficulty from the angle at which he scored it.

If championships are a deciding factor, then a case for Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith could be made. However, Kane has better production than both of them. Also, his game was just better than those two, except in the defensive area, where Toews and Keith were clearly superior. All three complemented each other's game so well. That is why they won three Stanley Cups.

When it comes to the two things that matter the most in winning a title, scoring goals and setting up scoring chances, Kane has those two beat.

Add up all the individual accolades and the championships, and it is easy to bestow the best player of all time in franchise history on Kane.