Jeremy Colliton had one perception of Patrick Kane as an opponent and now another as a coach.
As a player, Colliton only faced Kane once, but he knew about him plenty.
“You just respect his skill and how he’s always dangerous out there,” Colliton recently said. “They were in another conference, so we didn’t see too much.”
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Now as the Blackhawks coach, Colliton sees Kane in a different way.
“But now getting the chance to be around him, first of all when I was in Rockford just watching from afar, and now having the privilege of coaching him, two things stick out to me: just how competitive he is,” Colliton said. “He wants to make a difference every single shift. That fire that burns, it burns hot, and that’s part of what makes him so great. He wants to win every shift, he wants to win every drill in practice, and that’s a big part of why he gets better all the time.
“The second part to me is how intelligent he is about the game and how the pieces move on the ice and what he has to do to get himself space and opportunity to create offense. It’s been fun to be around him.”
The mixture of those two ingredients have made Kane one of the game’s elite players. They’ve also led Kane to evolve his game throughout his career. Where he was more of a pass-first player early in his career, he worked to become a true dual-threat. After scoring 132 goals in his first five seasons, averaging 0.33 goals per game, he’s gone on to average 0.45 goals per game in the last nine seasons.
That latter production enabled him to achieve Sunday’s feat. With his goal against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday, Kane became the 100th player in NHL history to record 400 career regular-season goals.
How Kane got to 400 was in a variety of ways. It’s not as if he has his “spot.”
“All his goals, you could put most of them on the highlight reel,” Alex DeBrincat recently said. “It’s awesome to see how much he loves to score, how much excitement he gets out of it. Second, the way he does it. when he grabs that puck, it’s almost like I know he’s going to score. He’s got that shot that he can put wherever he wants. It’s sneaky good. It’s pretty fun to watch. When he gets the puck you know something’s going to happen.”
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With Kane approaching 400, I decided to take on a project. I watched all 399 of his regular-season goals — I’ve also seen No. 400 now — and cut video of the goals that stood out to me. I ended up with 65 goals. Of those 65, I’ve decided on the best 20 goals (well, 21 with No. 400) and then I ranked them.
21. Goal No. 400, 2020-21 season
We’ll throw this late one in here because it had a lot of characteristics of Kane’s goals throughout his career.
20 (tie). Goal No. 270, 2015-16 season
The first goal to make the list was chosen based on creativity. Kane gets the puck behind the net and recognizes Edmonton Oilers goalie Cam Talbot’s position might make for a good backboard. Kane then banks the puck off Talbot’s back and into the net.
20 (tie). Goal No. 19, 2007-08 season
Some of Kane’s best goals have come against the St. Louis Blues as you’ll see as this list goes on. This one from his rookie season was his first overtime game-winner. He has scored 63 regular-season game-winning goals, including nine overtime ones, in his career.
19. Goal No. 58, 2009-10 season
This is just a blast from Kane. He pulls his stick so far back, brings it forward with as much force and places it perfectly into the top right corner. The puck is shot so hard that it just bounces off the net.
18. Goal No. 248, 2015-16 season
Kane had to wait until 2016 for his first regular-season hat trick. He’s had five more since then. This goal is notable because it gives him a hat trick in the second period.
17. Goal No. 50, 2009-10 season
This goal has a bit of everything. He steals the puck, remains patients, avoids a few defensive sticks, spins and finds a small hole in the net.
16. Goal No. 210, 2015-16 season
Sometimes Kane makes the very difficult look very easy. Roberto Luongo’s reaction of knocking the puck away is priceless, too.
15. Goal No. 191, 2014-15 season & Goal No. 317, 2018-19 season
These goals are tied because they’re similar.
Four seasons later, he scores in a similar fashion against the Blues.
14. Goal No. 316, 2018-19 season
This goal was scored in probably one of the most entertaining regular-season games of Kane’s career. He tied the game at 5-5 with a goal at 18:36 of the third period. Auston Matthews put the Toronto Maple Leafs back ahead 24 seconds later and put a hand to his ear to incite the crowd. Thirty-three seconds later, Kane scored another goal to tie the game again. Of course, he couldn’t let Matthews’ gesture go unnoticed.
13. Goal No. 228, 2015-16 season
This goal felt like it encompassed what Kane and Artemi Panarin were like playing with each other.
12. Goal No. 169, 2013-14 season
Joel Quenneville had to be yelling “peanut butter” after this one.
11. Goal No. 229, 2015-16 season
Kane avoids three defenders before finally finding a shooting lane he likes against the Colorado Avalanche.
10. Goal No. 51, 2009-10 season
Kane may not be known for his defense, but he’s capable. Here, he does his best Marian Hossa impression as he lifts a stick, steals the puck and scores.
9. Goal No. 254, 2016-17 season
Kane cuts, then fakes, fakes, fakes and finally shoots and scores.
8. Goal 271, 2017-18 season
Wonder if Kane and Robin Lehner ever discussed this one while teammates last season?
7. Goal No. 177, 2013-14 season
The Sabres were reaching and Kane was teaching on this goal.
6. Goal No. 317, 2018-19 season
This begins a string of Kane highlight goals against the Blues.
5. Goal No. 190, 2014-15 season
Blues defenseman Barrett Jackman should have tackled Kane. It would have worked out better for him than the multiple hook attempts.
4. Goal No. 10, 2007-08 season
This was off a Blackhawks’ power play, but Kane has no need for his teammates.
3. Goal No. 141, 2012-13 season & goal No. 391, 2020-21 season
Here’s another example of Kane scoring a goal in a similar way.
Kane did this one just recently.
2. Goal No. 164, 2013-14 season
Game tied in the final seconds of regulation? No problem. Kane will just get a rebound and fling the puck blindly backwards into the net.
1. Goal No. 257, 2016-17 season
Nothing felt exactly right at No. 1. Kane has had so many dramatic and important goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs that these all seem to pale in comparison. This one lacked the big-game excitement factor, but it made up for it in style and difficulty. It’s first splitting the defenders, then shooting while falling and still being able to lift the puck into the corner.
(Photo: David Banks / USA Today)
