Even after eight All-Star Games, Patrick Kane remains eager for his NHL-leading ninth

Kane will attend this year’s festivities while Alex Ovechkin won’t, extending the Blackhawks forward’s lead in appearances among active players.

SHARE Even after eight All-Star Games, Patrick Kane remains eager for his NHL-leading ninth
Patrick Kane, seen here before the 2018 NHL All-Star Game in Tampa Bay, will make his ninth career appearance this year in St. Louis.

Patrick Kane, seen here before the 2018 NHL All-Star Game in Tampa Bay, will make his ninth career appearance this year in St. Louis.

Mike Carlson/Getty Images

CALGARY, Alberta — Patrick Kane entered this season one ahead of Alex Ovechkin for the most All-Star Game appearances among active NHL players.

In a few weeks, he’ll extend that lead to two.

Kane was nominated for his ninth career (and sixth consecutive) All-Star appearance Monday and will attend the game Jan. 25 in St. Louis, despite his overwhelming familiarity with the annual festivities.

“It’s a big honor, for sure,” Kane said Tuesday. “There’s some amazing players in the league every year, and to be able to go with them and represent the Blackhawks, it’s a big honor.”

Ovechkin, meanwhile, was voted by fans to be one of four division captains, but announced he will skip the All-Star weekend for the second consecutive year — keeping his career total at seven appearances — to rest for the Capitals’ stretch run.

“I have to listen to my body,” Ovechkin told reporters Friday in Washington. “I have to get ready for the second half of the year. I have to be healthy and focus on different things.”

Per NHL rules, Ovechkin will be issued a one-game suspension for voluntarily skipping the event, but with the Caps leading the Eastern Conference and virtually guaranteed to qualify for the postseason again, that one regular-season game won’t matter much.

Kane — who, at 31, is three years younger — looks at his future Hall-of-Fame counterpart’s decision and sees how it makes sense for Ovechkin and the Caps but wouldn’t make sense for him and the Hawks.

“I ... understand where he’s coming from,” Kane said Tuesday. “Obviously, he wants the break. He knows his team’s going to be in the playoffs.”

“For me, if I ever wanted to go about something like that — especially with the position the team’s in — I would feel pretty guilty missing the [next] game, especially when you’re healthy.”

Kane__2_.jpg

Kane leads the Blackhawks by a mile in scoring this season, with 47 points entering Tuesday.

AP Photos

The mandatory suspension factors substantially into the thought process, and if it didn’t exist, a lot of older superstars around the league would likely give a second and third thought to following Ovechkin’s lead. Kane is no different.

But the reality is that even after eight trips to participate in the meaningless, often noncompetitive game(s), Kane — at least outwardly — still sees some value in them and still remembers how he fares each year.

“Every All-Star Game has its different memories,” he said. “The Central [Division] team has never won the All-Star Game, so hopefully we can go and win and enjoy that.”

Without question, Kane deserves both this year’s nomination and his active lead in total appearances. 

He finishes the 2010s as the NHL’s scoring champ and the only player to hit the 800-point milestone in the decade. He beat out second-place Sidney Crosby and third-place Ovechkin, although he did humbly point out he played more than 100 more games than Crosby.

And he ranks ninth in the league, and second in the division, this season with 51 points — more than 20 more than any other Hawks skater.

Yet he’s still searching for more from himself, still trying to find a way to translate his continued productivity into team success like it always used to, and still willing to attend an absurd ninth All-Star Game just to play every minute he can.

“I still think there’s more in the tank,” he said. “There’s another level to get to. The position we’re in, near that wild-card spot now and the team’s playing better, it’d be nice for myself to reach that level this year and keep producing for this team.

“But that’s just my job. That’s been my job since I’ve been in the league.”

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