Kane’s a weird case to dissect for me. Obviously, Ovechkin and Crosby are the best of the post lockout era. I’ve always held Malkin in high regard and when healthy and the Pens relied on him whenever Crosby was out or slumping, he at times could be seen as the best player in the world.
Kane was best in the world for perhaps a season and of course he is playing fantastic hockey right now, in addition to having an upper tier career.
Now this is an opinion I’ve never shared, but for many years Toews was considered better than Kane.
So I don’t know. If he can sweep the awards this season and will a bad Blackhawks team into the playoffs, it would significantly add to his legacy and his already impressive career and trophy cabinet would look even more so.
I’d still have trouble placing him above Malkin but I can see the case since Malkin never seems to be fully healthy and he usually follows up his great seasons with only decent ones where he’ll miss 20 games.