Buffalo Sabres Evander Kane Deserves A Spot On NHL All-Star Team
There have not been many silver linings in the cloud that is the Buffalo Sabres’ 2017-18 season, but that shouldn’t stop the team from being represented in Tampa Bay in 2018.
The Buffalo Sabres are a hot mess, with a roster full of players who are going to look back on the 2017-18 season with an unhealthy amount of regret . . .
. . . except for Evander Kane, that is. Kane is setting himself to make some serious bank this offseason, and SHOULD be the lone player on the Sabres roster to make the 2018 NHL All-Star Team.
Sure, some pundits are going to downplay Kane’s success, saying the only reason he stands out is because everyone else on the team is under-achieving. While it is true that just being “good” would make Kane stand out from the rest of his teammates, the bottom line is that Kane is one of the best goal scorers in the NHL so far. With 14 goals to his credit, he has the 6th-highest total in the entire league, and his 28 total points place him among the league’s top 35 players. The man is having himself a season, that much is for sure.
Once again, though, hockey fans might point that being one of the NHL’s top-35 points scorers is good, but not All-Star material. For starters, Kane currently has just as many, if not more, goals as nine of the forwards who currently sit atop the NHL All-Star Fan Vote leaderboard so toss that argument out the window. Besides, Kane is literally the only player on the Buffalo Sabres roster with more than 10 goals. He is currently the only consistent threat to score night in and night out, which means opposing defenses can lock in on him and essentially dare the other Sabres to find the back of the net – and yet Kane still is one of the NHL’s best goal-scorers right now.
Finally, if you are a Buffalo Sabres fan, remember: All-Star voting should not be about who USED to be an All-Star, or who MAY become one down the road. As much as everyone loves Jack Eichel, he is not quite there yet. Unlike Kane, who has been locked in and producing right from the first day of the season, Eichel has shown us that he is still struggling to find consistency when things are not going as he envisioned. Voting for Eichel because he is going to be the face of the franchise for years to come is cute, but not actually grounded in reality.
In the long run, this point might wind up being moot – who knows if anyone from the Buffalo Sabres will make the cut? Given how he has played from game 1 until now, however, it is clear that, if any player in the 716 should be making the trip to Tampa, it is Evander Kane. If you are going to vote, do the right thing!