Patrick Kane currently finds himself in a rare position: sitting in between two historic milestones in a two-week span.
Kane scored his 400th career NHL goal Feb. 28 against the Red Wings. He’s now on track to play his 1,000th career NHL game March 9 — this coming Tuesday — against the Stars.
“The biggest thing is once you start reaching these type of milestones — 400 goals and 1,000 games coming up — it leaves you wanting more,” Kane said after the aforementioned Wings game. “It’s exciting to achieve them and nice to have these types of milestones. Probably means I’ve played a while, but I just think you just want to keep getting better.”
The 32-year-old Blackhawks forward is nowhere near the end of his career. In 2021, he’s on pace for one of his best seasons ever, quickly entering his name into the Hart Trophy conversation.
But after 14 years in the league — 14 extremely productive years at that — Kane has left a data trail capable of producing some fascinating statistics.
And given the statistical significance of Kane’s two milestones this winter, here’s an in-depth look at his first 400 goals and first 1,000 games by the numbers.
Kane was fittingly the 100th player in NHL history to score 400 goals. But among U.S.-born players, he’s just the ninth ever and the fifth-youngest to do so. Here’s his company.
(Kane became the youngest U.S.-born player to score 1,000 career points when he hit that milestone last season.)
Individually, Kane scored more of his first 400 goals in November than any other month, although February was fittingly not far behind.
And the second period — where he has likely benefitted from extra counterattacking opportunities created by the long change — has been his most prolific.
Kane has scored more against the Stars than any other opponent, although he has averaged more goals per game against the Maple Leafs than any other team.
And Kane has, of course, received plenty of help while getting here. These 10 former or present Hawks teammates have recorded the most assists on Kane’s first 400 goals.
Kane will likely become the 350th player in NHL history to play 1,000 games come Tuesday.
Slightly complicating the situation, though, is the fact Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle will become the 349th to do so if he plays in the Panthers-Hurricanes game Sunday.
Kane will also likely be the 33rd active player and 53rd U.S.-born player to play 1,000 games — with Yandle the 32nd and 52nd, respectively.
But regardless of Yandle’s unfortunately timed situation, Kane will indisputably be the seventh player to ever appear in 1,000 games for the Blackhawks — and the youngest of all of them to hit that milestone.
Kane played his first NHL game as an 18-year-old rookie on Oct. 4, 2007 against the Wild. In his seventh game, on Oct. 19, 2007 against the Avalanche, he scored his first NHL goal.
Here are each of his milestone moments in both categories since, starting with goals:
And now every milestone games-played moment, with the Kings making strangely but coincidentally frequent appearances:
Finally, the statistical exercise is most impressive when combining the two methods of measurement.
Breaking down Kane’s career into 10 segments of 100 games each, then calculating how many goals, assists and points he tallied in each segment, demonstrates how he has become an even more productive player with age.
The numbers for Kane’s most recent 100-game segment are incomplete, because he’s likely to score even more before Tuesday’s game ends. And the same holds true for the years and seasons ahead.
