Evander Kane……is Soft

 

Evander Kane.

Words to describe him: quick, fast, speedy, big, somewhat dynamic, very problematic, and always egomatic.

Oh, and add the adjective soft to that list too.

After being injured in Friday’s game in Philadelphia – a game that the Jets needed him to keep playing for two points – Evander Kane has shown Jets fans just what he is made of.

His core, his centre, his mantra has been clearly released for public viewing.

Not that his slow start – 14 points in 26 games  – has anything to do with it, but even when Kane was scoring 30 goals in 2011-12, there were still those elementary flaws in his game that many "power forwards" work out of in their first season or two.

Adjustments have not been made for Kane and instead of improving his game as a 6’2, 195 pound power forward the Jets need to produce, he has found himself as a speedy winger who shoots from any angle he can get.

There is a reason why the MTS Centre faithful don’t get loud or start to cheer when Evander Kane gets the puck and streaks down the left side anymore – they know it’s going to be a shot from the top of the circle or from the half boards, or even better no shot at all and a little skate behind the net into no man’s land.

Evander Kane has the third most shots in the NHL (108), three behind Minnesota’s Zach Parise (111) and 23 behind Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (131).

What’s the difference between these three? 

Ovechkin has 20 goals and Parise has 11.

Kane only has seven.

You have to look down to Vancouver’s Chris Higgins at 12th to find another forward who shoots as much and has less than 10 goals (Higgins has 94 shots and seven goals).

In the top 15, Kane’s 6.5% shooting percentage is second best to teammate Dustin Byfuglien’s 6.3%.

But for Byfuglien, his shooting percentage isn’t expected to be high – he’s a defenseman for crying out loud, not our go to power forward.

It’s a history of this too.

Kane finished second in shots last season with 190, 30 less than Ovechkin.  Kane had 17 goals, Ovechkin 32.

In 2011-12, Kane finished ninth in shots with 287, scored 30 goals and had a shooting percentage of 10.5%.  Only Rick Nash had a worse shooting percentage in the top 10 (9.8%).

So what, you’re saying, Kane doesn’t have a high shooting percentage.

So what?

So we never get goals from him if he’s consistently shooting from outside the slot or the hash marks.

What kind of power forward has one move to the outside and shoots?

Add to the fact that Kane went down with an injury on Friday on a play that I think was not as bad as it seems and you have a soft player who has fallen in and out of grace with many fans.

The solution?

Trade him?

Use him?

Bench him?

Not my job to decide.

But he is soft.