The Quest for 1,000 points

A few days ago, Patrick Kane completed a major career goal when he scored his 500th career point. Considering that this is Kane's 8th season and he will be 26 soon, this is an amazing feat for a young talent. Now that he has scored 500, can he possibly score 1,000 career points? So far there has been 79 players who have scored 1,000 in the 96 years in the history of the NHL.

Keeping his age and years as a pro in mind, lets see his  points per game average and determine what average points per game he must maintain in order to achieve this milestone. All estimates will be based on the possibility that injuries do not hurt his career.

As of his 524th career game, Kane has scored 500 points. This means he has averaged just under 1 point per game. Now I will use Dale Hunter's number of games (1308) to reach this milestone (He took the longest by games played.) to compare. Subtracting 524 from 1308 means Kane would have 784 games left. Now taking 500 points dividing by 784 games, that means Kane must average .64 points/game.

In conclusion, its mathematically possible as Kane has achieved the 500 milestone at a faster rate than he would need to average for now on, assuming injuries don't hold him back. Will this milestone be easy, obviously not because many factors can take place. Kane can either be injured, key teammates can leave the team, or he can possibly be traded to another team. So many factors can stop him from reaching 1,000 points, but judging from how fast he scored his 500 points, it is a lot easier to predict that he will one day pass 1,000 points.

Importance of Brad Richards

There is bad news and good news. The bad news, the Blackhawks are still struggling at the center position. The good news, that is why the Blackhawks acquired Brad Richards in the off-season. I know in an earlier post I basically downplayed Richards, I still believe Shaw to be the man for the 2nd line, but believe it or not, Richards is still very important to the Blackhawks. He is struggling right now, but if Brad Richards can reach the expectations that have been set, the Blackhawks will become an even more dominant team.

The Los Angeles Kings are the one of the main teams that will challenge the Hawks in the playoffs (My prediction at least) and a weakness at center is one of the main faults of the Blackhawks team that needed to be addressed. To address this need, the Blackhawks got Brad Richards. Even if he doesn't become the 2nd line center, he will always be needed to be a productive 3rd line center, as the depth of center is needed in order to challenge the great teams that the Hawks will face in the playoffs.

Game Recap, NSH vs CHI

Congrats to the Chicago Blackhawks on beating the Nashville Predators last night at the Mad house on Madison. Hawks are off to a great start this season with a 3-0-1 record. Last night the opening goal was scored by Johnny Oduya the defensemen taking a slapper from the blue line to get past Carter Hutton in the first period. The next goal was scored by the Shea Weber, a veteran defensemen who plays for Nashville. Let me remind you Shea Weber has the second fastest slap shot in the world. He ended up taking a slapper from 10 feet out getting past Crawford. There wasn't another goal scored until overtime, where the Blackhawks were a man down. Johnny Toews ended up getting a breakaway in OT and his first shot was saved by Carter Hutton but they always teach you to crash the net in hockey, and thats exactly what Toews did by poking the rebound past Hutton for the OT winner! Toews got the first star of the game with Oduya coming in at the second star. The third star of the game was Carter Hutton for having 35 saves as well as a having a .946 save percentage. GO HAWKS!!!

The 2nd Line

The 2nd line this season has been really productive, with Kane scoring one goal and a couple of assist, while Shaw scored two goals and also earned a couple of assist. Saad has not scored yet this season, but he does have three assist to add to the productivity.

Now I must ask, can this line remain productive for the whole season? Saad seems to have the potential to be a superstar, he is one of the fastest players on the team and he is very decisive on the offensive end. However, Shaw does not seem to fit as a superstar because of this 5'10", 180 lb frame. Even though Shaw has the proven statistics to make the case, what Shaw is really known for is being quite the instigator, always finding ways to annoy players, all to his enjoyment.

Brad Richards

Overall, Shaw must find a way to be consistently productive, Brad Richards, who was brought in during the off-season to be the center for the 2nd line, has been in for the 3rd line instead and it seems that Shaw is the better man for the 2nd line job. The best alternative seems to be a player the Blackhawks currently have in the AHL, playing for Rockford. Blackhawks will need to wait at least half of the season before trying to call him up, so right now Shaw is the man for the 2nd line job.

 

Is Crawford Elite?

Even though the season has just started, it is hard not to think who is being the most consistent so far. Who really has been the most consistent for the Blackhawks? Honestly, the most consistent player seems to be Corey Crawford. With all the shots on goal, its amazing how many saves Crawford has made not just this season, but in the past as well. Let's not forget that Crawford is one of the reasons why the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2013, and that may be the case this season.

Now back to the main question, is Corey Crawford "elite"? Since I am someone who tends to look at statistics for the answers in sports, I would say yes because Corey Crawford tends to have the highest win percentage in the league, and if you watch the games closely, you will notice he is the reason that the Blackhawks stay in the games. Crawford has a career save percentage of 91.4%  and he averages around 2 goals a game. This season so far Crawford has 75 saves, an impressive stat for only playing 3 games into the regular season.

First game of the season! Go Blackhawks!

The Departure of the D-man

This is quite a depressing week for the Chicago Blackhawks. As they have made some major roster changes with the addition of Dan Carcillo, they have lost a very important player. The Blackhawks, in order to free up the cap space, have decided to trade one of their star defensemen Nick Leddy. Leddy was on the Stanley Cup winning team when they won the Cup in 2010 and in 2013. The Hawks traded Leddy to the New York Islanders as well as AHL goaltender Kent Simpson, and they received defensemen T.J. Brennen, Ville Pokka, and the rights to a restricted free agent goaltender Anders Nilsson. It will be an interesting year without the star defensemen but we will have to wait until the regular season to see whether the new players fit well into the Blackhawks system well.

New Addition to the Roster

Dan Carcillo is back with the Blackhawks, he was just recently released from his PTO with Pittsburgh. He was a member of the 2013 Stanley Cup champs and has since then been quite the journeyman. Carcillo has played for Chicago, Phoenix, Philly, LA, and New York. Carcillo is known for his disciplinary issues, most notably his suspension during the Easter Conference Final for being too physical. This will be an interesting addition to the roster and a "wild card" pickup indeed.