The season is over, and we’re going to rate every player who played more than 20 games this season on their performance the same way we were all graded back in the day – on a report card scale of A to F. We’re taking a look at everyone from Bailey to Rodrigues in our 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres Report Cards.
Age: 25
Contract: Through 2017-’18 ($5,250,000)
Introduction: It’s tough to talk about Evander Kane without mentioning his issues off the ice since coming to Buffalo, but on the ice he’s been quite successful. With 28 goals, Kane had the second best scoring season of his career (his career high came in 2011-12 when he scored 30 goals). Kane led the team in goals, edging out Jack Eichel by four.
Key stat: It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that’s watched him that Evander Kane likes to shoot. He led the team with 260 shots this season, with Eichel being the only other Sabre to pass the 200 mark. Kane’s shoot-first mentality has led to criticism throughout his career, as his ability to make the players around him better has been questioned. Despite leading the team in goals, he’s sixth in points. Rasmus Ristolainen, Ryan O’Reilly, Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Kyle Okposo, Brian Gionta, Matt Moulson, Jake McCabe and Cody Franson all notched more assists than Kane.
Thumbs up: On a team that finished 25th in the NHL in goals, Kane actually scored. Thank god someone could.
Thumbs down: Even with Kane’s high goal totals, there will always be questions about his place on the team if he continues to get into trouble. It’s the reason Kane’s been in trade rumors this offseason.
Memorable moment: Kane had his fair share of late-game heroics this year, but perhaps none were more spectacular than his performance against the San Jose Sharks. Kane helped the Sabres come back from a 4-1 deficit, scoring with 11:36 remaining in the third to make it 4-3.
Okposo scored to send the game into overtime, setting up an overtime game-winner for Kane.
Voting: Using the good old grade school system of A, B, C, D, F, with a grade of A representing a great season, a grade of C being the performance you expected, and F a very poor season, rate Josh Gorges on his performance this year.
Grade Evander Kane on his 2016-17 season.
| A | 202 |
| B | 416 |
| C | 59 |
| D | 11 |
| F | 4 |