Chicago Hawks' Patrick Kane Is Playing The Best Hockey Of His Career

If someone told you two months ago that Patrick Kane was going to be tied for the league lead in points, most people would think something drastic happened, and they would be right.

Kane had his worst offseason of his career. Coming off a Stanley Cup win, and coming into the first season of an eight-year, $84 million contract extension, he should have been riding high. Unfortunately, he got himself in the biggest trouble of his life. He was facing a possible rape charge in his hometown in western New York. A woman left his house after a night on the town, and went straight to the hospital. It was a situation that looked like it could end his career, or at least his Chicago Blackhawks career.

Earlier this month, the prosecutor in that case said no charges would come from the case. That means the world can focus on Kane and on hockey.

On the ice, the controversy has not slowed him down one bit. He is tied for the lead in points with Jamie Benn. He has 32 points in 21 games and is on pace to score a ridiculous 124 points over an 82 game season.

He is scoring goals when the team needs it. He has four game-winning goals, one less than he had all of last year. He is on one of the hottest streaks of his career, gaining a point in every game in November and officially appearing on the score sheet for 16 straight games. There have been two games all season in which he didn’t score. Comparatively, St. Louis Blues star Vladimir Tarasenko has been off the score sheet in seven games this season.

Kane is clearly motivated by what happened in the offseason. He saw some key pieces for the Blackhawks move on. The team traded away  and Brandon Saad, who they really didn’t replace. Kane was looked upon to make up that scoring, and he is doing that in a big way. He is forcing people to talk about his play rather than what he was accused of this offseason.