No matter how much puck luck Patrick Kane enjoys, there's no guarantee he will own the NHL record for most points by a U.S.-born player as long as Mike Modano did.
But it's also possible he might own it longer. There are too many variables to do much more than make a guess.
Dallas Stars center Modano scored two goals against the San Jose Sharks to break Phil Housley's mark on Nov. 7, 2007. At the time, Modano had 1,233 points in 1,253 games. When he retired after playing a final season for the Detroit Red Wings in 2010-11, his points total was 1,374 in 1,499 games.
That mark stood for 18 years and 83 days before Patrick Kane picked up an assist last Thursday against Washington to give him 1,375 points in 1,343 games.
Modano sent Kane a video message imploring him to make it harder for the next guy
"(Modano is) one of the best American players of all time," Kane said, "a guy I looked up to a lot when I was younger. And I remember the moment when he passed Phil Housley in San Jose on breakaway goal. To see him up there (on the video screen) as a former Red Wing, too,
sending a message like that was pretty classy."
Modano was 37 when he broke Housley's record and Kane was 37 when he toppled Modano's mark
Kane says he wants to play into 40s. If we project him playing three more seasons and adding 150 points to his total, he will be at 1,525. Can he get that many? It's plausible because he is still an effective skilled player. But can he stay healthy?
The closest active competitor is Auston Matthews who has 773 points at age 28.
If he averages 70+ points per season for the next 10 seasons, he would be knocking at the door at age 38. An averaging 70 points is a lofty goal. Of course, that would necessitate that Matthews can stay healthy, which he hasn't been able to do and not having a poor season (in terms of points) like he is having this season.
The other question is whether Matthews will want to play as long as Kane and Modano did. In five years, we probably will have a better idea of whether Matthews can get there. But even then, we will still be guessing. In five years, it could be Jack Eichel we are tracking.
Here are other notes of interest from the weekend:
2. Hab Dies at 76: The Montreal Canadiens announced the death of Chuck Lefley who was a member of the 1971 and 1973 Montreal Stanley Cup teams. The sixth overall pick in the 1969 NHL draft was a late-season call up in 1971 and only played one regular-season and one playoff game. The Canadiens had his name engraved on the Cup. But in 1973, Manitoba native Lefley was a 21-goal scorer for the Habs and played 17 playoff games. He was a farmer in retirement. Lefley was 76 at the time of his death.
3. Red Wings Eye Big Man?; Add Winnipeg Jets 6-foot-7 defenseman Logan Stanley to the list of players the Detroit Red Wings would like to add their roster before the NHL trade deadline. They are intrigued by the idea of adding another big man for their blue line.
4. How Do You Slice that Pie?: Hockey insider Elliotte Friedman has reported that he is hearing that Artemi Panarin is looking for a $50 million deal. Is that four years at $12.5 million per season or five at $10 million per season or six at $8.33 million? An ask for $10.5 million over four years is probably what GMs would prefer. Panarin is 34. But some team will make it work with him. Too many teams need an offensive boost.
5. Lightning Won't Go Away: During the ongoing Tampa Bay 16-1-1 run, the Lightning have scored four or more goals 14 times and given up two or fewer goals 13 times. What's more impressive?
6.Two Week Dip: The Colorado Avalanche showed four regulation losses in their first 45 games and then picked up four regulation losses in 13 days.
7. Center of Attention: The Nashville Predators are only three points out of playoff spot. They also respect Ryan O'Reilly's importance to the team. He has one more season left with a team-friendly $4.5 million cap hit. O'Reilly is a good defensive player, faceoff artist and leader. He doesn't have a no-trade clause, but we've heard all season GM Barry Trotz wants to treat him like he does. It didn't seem like a trade is in the cards. But that could change. O'Reilly is playing impressively well (18 goals, 33 assists, 51 points in 54 games) to the point that he is one of the more desirable players on most trade-boards. The offers could be tempting enough that the Predators will talk to him about a trade.
8.One-A-Day: Does a hat trick a day, keep the losses away? We can figure that out this season because Alex Tuch's Thursday hat trick established a new NHL record of 30 hat tricks in a month. That breaks the old mark of 29 that had stood for 41 years. It's not quite one hat trick per day, but the new mark has some quirky aspects to it. While Connor McDavid did register one this month, it hasn't been the elite players leading the hat trick brigade. Mika Zibanejad registered two of the 30. Four different defensemen registered a hat trick, including two (Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm) from the Edmonton Oilers. Anaheim rookie Beckett Sennecke also netted one. Boston teammates Marat Kusnutdinov and Pavel Zacha both had hat tricks in the same game.