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Evander deserves to be the cover boy this month after his impressive start. Youll find it under: http://www.sabreshockeyville.com or the direct picture link here: http://www.pixelpuncher.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/wp_sabres_2017_11.jpg http://www.pixelpuncher.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/wp_sabres_2017_11_wo.jpg

Evander seems excited about Vegas getting a team... Well I personally like Kane, would playing in Vegas appeal to him or are fans overreacting to him just being, well Evander? http://sabres.buffalonews.com/2016/06/23/sabres-kane-vegas-expansion-team/

Evander Kane came to this team in a massive trade. We were promised we were getting a top 3 winger with grit but maybe some attitude issues. Note that this thread is not about his value in the trade. We are talking about his contributions this year to the Sabres in terms of how it has helped or hurt the team. To date Kane has been injured once, gone for long periods without scoring, bounced around the lineup, had a police investigation opened and endeared himself to several teammates with commendable on ice acts worthy of being a teammate. Kane has also taken an interest in the local charities of Buffalo and has on several occasions helped out around town. However I don't really care about his extracurricular activities. What I do care about is his career to date. Has he played where he should and gotten unlucky with scoring or is he overrated and will never be a 70pt 25-30g guy? First let's look at the numbers. His career shot % is not high for a top 3 scoring winger. His sh% is .088 for his career. In all honesty I would want my winger to have a % closer to .110 or so. Currently however Kane is at .066% which means statistically speaking instead of having 8 goals this season, he should have 10.6 goals. I think that this year is an outlier down year for his shot. He is coming off of shoulder surgery and has had some issues meshing with his linemates. Kane is a puck carrier and as we saw, putting him with another puck carrier like Eichel was a recipe for nothing. Second we need to look at his ppg totals and see how he is performing there. Not counting this year, Kane has played 361 NHL games and has .615 ppg. This year in 33 games his ppg is 0.455. If he were at his average he would have 20.3 points instead of the 15 he has. Now this for me is more concerning. His sh% can be explained IMO because new system, coming off shoulder surgery, dealing with a bad line mate (in terms of playing styles, not saying Eichel is bad I love how he is developing), so I understand why his sh% was down. His ppg however is a little more troubling. Yes it would be down because he isn't shooting his best. However the decline is more than his sh% would allow in my mind. This is the part that is disappointing. If Kane is still getting his shot up to par after shoulder surgery he needs to be contributing in other ways. Let us now take a look at how Evander is being used by Bylsma. Kane's o-zone starts are up from from last year in Winnipeg but down slightly from his career average in Winnipeg. 59.9% versus the 57% he is getting this year. In the last 4 years in WP he averaged 19.24 TOI and he is currently averaging 20.4 TOI here in Buffalo. His higher ice time would lend me to believe he should be scoring slightly more PPG then before, which he is not doing. His points per 60mins have dropped from 1.8 last year to 1.3 this year. Now we could say "well maybe Kane is not shooting more and so he needs more opportunities to shoot etc.." but that would be incorrect as his shots per 60mins have gone up .1 from last season. Now let's get to the last advanced stats we need to discuss. His Corsi and Fenwick. His last 4 years in Winnipeg he averaged a Corsi% in all situations of 54.2 and this year his Corsi is at 54.8% leading me to believe his possesion skills are exactly where they should be. His Fenwick in WP was 54.1 where currently in Buffalo it sits at 56.0. His CF% Rel is 6.6 and his FW% Rel is 8 for this who want to know the advanced stuff. Okay so what does this mean? Well to put it in perspective we all love ROR and he arguably is playing against tougher opponents but just so you have a benchmark, ROR's Corsi, Fenwick and C Rel and F Rel are: 52.9c, 54.2f, 4.8crel, and 6.6frel. So Kane is successful in the possession game. (Note I am not in anyway implying he is better than ROR just wanted readers to have a comparison for someone we know is a possession leader and amazing player) If I put this all together I see a player who is neither an offensive driver like Eichel or ROR (a driver is someone who is the reason their linemates are scoring be it through sound possession play or just raw unyielding talent) or an offensive passenger like Moulson or Foligno ( a offensive passenger is someone who needs a linemate to help them generate their offense). Kane falls somewhere in between these two classifications and is more offensive freelancer or someone who sometimes contributes by driving or sometimes is a passenger. He is playing below where I would like to see his game. His sh% is abysmal and I think Jack Eichel could teach him a thing or twenty about having an elite shot. In the last week I have witnessed an increase in his ability to be aggressive on the forecheck and a willingness to battle in all situations. His pass to Reinhart might very well be a turning point but we have to see it. I do not think that Evander is overrated, but I believe he is having a statistically below normal season. I think there are parts to his game that need some work but I also would not say he is under-appreciated. I think for me right now I can't answer my own question because I haven't witnessed enough of Kane to form a solid opinion on the player he is. With that in mind, what say you? Overrated or Under-Appreciated?