Opinion: Settling the Evgeni Malkin vs. Patrick Kane Debate
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PITTSBURGH - Early Sunday, Evgeni Malkin decided to set the hockey sphere ablaze. Malkin, via an Instagram account, made a comment on a post regarding which player is better, himself or Patrick Kane.
Geno, being the funny character he likes to be, left a simple, concise comment under the post.
“88.”
That’s all Malkin had to say to get his point across. Whether he was doing it for the laughs or genuinely believes it, I think Malkin may be selling himself short. Most of the hockey fandom seemed to agree with Geno’s assessment that Kane is the superior player with a better career. I’m not so sure, and that inspired me to want to do a deep dive into comparing the two future Hall-of-Famers. Before I start, yes, I am biased as I have been a Penguins fan my entire life. So, take this all with a grain of salt.
Evgeni Malkin is the older of the two but has played over 100 fewer games than Kane. Malkin was picked second overall in 2004, and Kane was the first pick three years later, in 2007. Both have battled injuries throughout their lengthy careers, but Malkin has obviously missed more time to injury than his American comparable.
In terms of offensive production, the numbers are very close. You can tell right off the bat that both players favor playmaking to goalscoring, as their goals-to-assists ratios are very telling. Malkin, in 1063 NHL games, scored 471 goals and 758 assists for a total of 1229 points, or 1.15 points per game. Kane, in 1180 NHL games, scored 451 goals and 786 assists, for a total of 1237 points, or 1.04 points per game. Even though the numbers seem very close, and the raw point total favors Kane, Malkin has a better rate of point production throughout his career. Based on those metrics, the numbers favor Malkin.
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There’s more to the argument than that. If it was as simple as point totals or point production rate, it wouldn’t be as fun to debate these things. Let’s take into consideration overall accomplishments.
Evgeni Malkin has collected his fair share of hardware in his career. Geno has won three Stanley Cups with the Penguins. He has won the scoring title, the Art Ross Trophy, twice. He was voted league MVP, winning the Hart Memorial Trophy once in the 2011-12 season. He also won the Lester B. Pearson Trophy, now named the Ted Lindsay Trophy, as the best player as voted by the players in that season. He was voted playoff MVP, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy during the 2009 Penguins Stanley Cup victory. He won the Calder Trophy for league’s best rookie in 2006-07. Malkin has also been voted an All-Star three times.
For Patrick Kane, the hardware is also plentiful. Like Malkin, Kane won three Stanley Cups with his original team, the Chicago Blackhawks. Kane won the scoring title once in the 2015-16 season. Kane won the Hart Memorial Trophy once, just like Malkin. The same year as his Art and Hart Trophy wins, he also won his only Lester B. Pearson Trophy. Four years after Malkin won the Conn Smythe, Kane won his first and only en route to the Blackhawks’ second of three Cup victories. The year after Malkin won the Calder Trophy, Kane did the same. Kane has represented the Hawks in the All-Star Game on four occasions, once more than Geno. Unlike Malkin, Kane was named one of the NHL’s top 100 players of all time during the league’s centennial year celebration in the 2017-18 season. Geno has frequently been called “Mr. 101” as his snubbing from that list was at the time and still is rather egregious.
Based on hardware, it’s still a very tight race. Nearly all trophy wins are a wash, aside from one more scoring title by Malkin, one more All-Star appearance by Kane, and inclusion on the top-100 players list by Kane. Considering Malkin was competing with Sidney Crosby in order to make the All-Star Games, I think the fact he made it to three is outstanding. It depends on how you value an extra All-Star appearance and inclusion on a made-up list against an extra-scoring title, but I’ll take the extra-scoring title. Malkin wins this one again.
This reason isn’t something Kane can necessarily control, but it still pushes the issue in favor of Malkin for me. Malkin has spent his entire career playing center. Center is undoubtedly a more difficult position to play than a wing. Centers need to be more defensively aware and responsible than wingers. Although Malkin hasn’t been an elite, two-way player throughout his career, he has absolutely had more on-ice responsibility than Kane. I’d be more inclined to not make this as much of an issue if Kane maybe played penalty kill at some points in his career, but he hasn’t even done that. Malkin hasn’t either, but the role of center bares more of those 200ft. game responsibilities than a normal winger. Based on that alone, I’m willing to cut Malkin more slack.
My final reason for why I favor Malkin over Kane is ice time. Ever since Malkin made it to the NHL from Russia, he was always a second-line center. As long as Sidney Crosby was in the lineup, Malkin would always be slotted underneath 87. Because of that, Malkin has been given second-line ice time his entire career, aside from when Crosby was injured. Kane had no winger on the Blackhawks roster who would hold him back from getting top-line ice time. Both Kane and Malkin were mainstays on their teams’ top power play units, but at even strength, Malkin saw the ice less than Kane. Malkin was able to produce nearly identical raw numbers, and at an increased rate of point production, while seeing the ice less per game than Kane.
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For those reasons, in a matchup of careers between the two future Hall-of-Famers, I’d take Evgeni Malkin over Patrick Kane. Both are generational talents who helped define the game of hockey for many. Both are two of the most purely skilled and talented people to play hockey ever. Both are two of the most accomplished NHL players in league history. But, if I were to choose which had a better career, I’d lean towards Malkin over Kane.
