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Since the San Jose Sharks acquired Evander Kane at the 2018 trade deadline, he’s been a great addition to the team’s forward group.

In order to acquire Kane, it took just a late first-round pick, a fourth-round pick and Danny O’Regan, a prospect who’s now 26 years old and has played just three NHL games in the last three seasons. Essentially, the only quality piece that San Jose gave up to get Kane was a 29th overall pick.

Since joining the Sharks, Kane has been one of the team’s top forwards and has boosted his production. Here are his goals and points per 82 averages with each of the NHL teams he’s played for:

Atlanta (139 GP): 19.5 G/82, 40.7 P/82, 49.2 CF%
Winnipeg (222 GP): 28.1 G/82, 56.5 P/82, 52.0 CF%
Buffalo (196 GP): 28.4 G/82, 49.4 P/82, 50.2 CF%
San Jose (156 GP): 34.2 G/82, 61.5 P/82, 53.5 CF%



With the Sharks, Kane has seen higher G/82 and P/82 averages than he did with any other team. He’s averaged nearly 35 goals per 82 in his time with San Jose, which is much higher than he averaged with any other team. In Kane’s first nine NHL seasons, he averaged 60 points per 82 only once. However, in his two full seasons with the Sharks, however, he’s averaged at least 60 points per 82 in each season and was even on pace for it in his 17 games with the Sharks in the 2017-18 season, after being acquired at the trade deadline. His possession stats have also been strong, averaging a higher corsi for percentage with the Sharks than with any other team.

I’m not a fan of some of Doug Wilson’s contracts but there’s no denying that Kane’s deal has certainly been worthwhile for the Sharks. His $7M AAV is very reasonable and considering he’ll be only 33 years old when his contract expires, the Sharks will likely make it through almost the entire deal without having to be afraid of a decline.

While there may be some uncertainty as to where the Sharks go from here after a terrible season, Kane is one of the pieces that the team can count on up front for the years to come.



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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted tomorrow):


OTHER SHARKS ARTICLES FROM MAY

Sharks will reportedly sign goaltender Alexei Melnichuk
What would the Sharks do with a compliance buyout?
Reviewing this week's polls (May 3): Sharks Edition
Sharks sign Handemark and Melnichuk
Reviewing Doug Wilson's success with late-round draft picks
Sharks shouldn’t re-sign Melker Karlsson
Reviewing this week's polls (May 10): Sharks Edition
Sharks sign Ibragimov to entry-level contract
Sharks will have a hole in the lineup after trading Dillon

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