Even though the Blackhawks haven’t been winning much lately, the faces of the franchise have been pulling their weight and then some lately. Patrick Kane is currently on pace to have his best statistical season in the NHL — at age 30 in his 12th season. Jonathan Toews is also 30 years old and on pace to tie his career-best numbers.
Current pace for a few #Blackhawks players (I did not round up):
Patrick Kane: 46 G, 68 AST, 114 PTS (would set career high)
Jonathan Toews: 35 G, 41 AST, 76 PTS (would tie career high)
Alex DeBrincat: 40 G, 28 AST, 68 PTS (would set career high)
— Slavko Bekovic (@SBekovic) January 23, 2019
Patrick Kane Still Hasn’t Hit His Peak
It’s crazy to think about, considering all of the success he’s had, but Patrick Kane still hasn’t hit his peak. His performance thus far is extremely impressive, because he’s doing it with basically no supporting cast. Kane is well on his way to having his best season. He currently leads the Blackhawks in all offensive categories, besides +/- rating, and he’s also at the top of the NHL leaderboards.
NHL Points Leaders
NHL Goals Leaders
NHL Assists Leaders
Patrick Kane has been red hot recently. Kane now has 899 career points and has had multiple point streaks this season. He’s currently on a 9 game point streak.
Patrick Kane extends his season-long point streak to 9 games. He’s at 899 points for his NHL career. #Blackhawks
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 23, 2019
Besides being a frequent streaker, Kane also has the Blackhawks power play playing much better as of late. The Blackhawks have gone from having literally the worst power play to a much more respectable 16th ranked unit.
Patrick Kane has been largely responsible for the newly found success on the power play. Kane accounts for 8 total PPG this season, but he’s also had some help.
The #Blackhawks have scored 16 power play goals during that stretch. Alex DeBrincat (6), Patrick Kane (6), Brandon Saad (3) and Dylan Strome (1).
— Eric Lear (@BHTVeric) January 23, 2019
Sure, numbers are nice, but Patrick Kane has also been selected to the 2019 NHL All-Star game. He will be the lone Blackhawks representative this season. This will be Kane’s 8th All-Star game appearance — 8 appearances in 12 seasons. Some say (me) Jonathan Toews was snubbed, but that’s another story for another time.
Jonathan Toews Bounces Back
Captain Serious has bounced back in a big way this season. After consecutive down seasons for his standards, Jonathan Toews has once again found his form. He is currently on pace to tie many of his career-best numbers. Toews already has 20 goals, which is a number he struggled to reach in the two previous seasons.
Jonathan Toews has already scored more goals than in each of his last two seasons 👀 pic.twitter.com/PwW8iVSIOv
— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) January 24, 2019
In his last 20 games, Toews has netted an impressive 24 points (9G, 15A). He has 6 career hat tricks and 2 have come from this season alone.
Patrick Kane ➡️ Jonathan Toews AGAIN 🏒🥅🚨
TOEWS HATTY 🎩🎩🎩
Toews nets a hat trick for the 2nd time this season, 6th career hat trick. #Blackhawks #CHIvsWSH #HockeyTwitter #NHL pic.twitter.com/jabe0kuZlJ
— ✶ ✶Tony G✶ ✶ (@Certified_TonyG) January 20, 2019
Although he didn’t win the Last Men In fan vote, Toews is well deserving of a roster spot in the 2019 NHL All-Star game. I am salty about that, but I’ve recently come to terms with it. If the NHL had a Comeback Player of the Year award, the award would be his. I think that would be a GREAT addition to the NHL. What do you say, Gary?
What’s Next?
It’s a shame that Toews and Kane’s great years are going to waste, as the Blackhawks are currently in 27th place.
Even though it technically is a lost season, I’m not losing hope. Right now, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are basically saying, “Hey, we’re not done yet, but we can also use a bit of help.” These guys are singlehandedly making Chicago a much more appealing destination for free agents. There will be plenty of big name free agents this season that would be an instant upgrade. Players like Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Mark Stone, Erik Karlsson, Matt Duchene, Joe Pavelski, Jeff Skinner and more will be available as unrestricted free agents this offseason.
If StanBo is able to convince at least one of these guys to sign on the dotted line and pair that with some generational talent in the 2019 NHL Draft in the form of either Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko, then I feel very confident in a quick turnaround for the Blackhawks. You also can’t forget that there are some very promising defensemen in the system who will begin to crack the NHL roster as soon as next season. Adam Boqvist, Ian Mitchell, and Nicolas Beaudin are all looking like studs.
In the meantime, all eyes should be on Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. They are the reasons Blackhawks hockey is still fun right now.
In one swift motion, Jonathan Toews dookied all over Robin Lehner… 👀 #Blackhawks #CHIvsNYI #HockeyTwitter #NHL pic.twitter.com/zcNsLn3HNc
— ✶ ✶Tony G✶ ✶ (@Certified_TonyG) January 23, 2019
Alternate angle on Patrick Kane’s FILTHY shootout goal… that’s a hate crime 👀🔥🔥🔥#Blackhawks #CHIvsNYI #HockeyTwitter #NHL pic.twitter.com/KZQXuD7GXr
— ✶ ✶Tony G✶ ✶ (@Certified_TonyG) January 23, 2019
For more Blackhawks news and updates, follow the author @Certified_TonyG on Twitter.