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Patrick Kane’s minus-9 is ‘a number that obviously doesn’t look good’

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The value of plus/minus as a hockey statistic may be highly dubious, but when the reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner, playing for the defending Stanley Cup champions, has a minus-9 rating in just 13 games, people are going to notice.

We are, of course, referring to Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane, who was asked about his rating yesterday after practice.

“Sometimes you catch some tough breaks,” Kane said, per the Chicago Tribune. “Other times, there are plays that I can probably make to try and help keep the puck out of our net. It’s a number that obviously doesn’t look good. It’s not something that’s going to change overnight. It will be a long road back to try and get into the plus column, but I’m confident I can do it.”

Only four other players in the NHL have a lower plus/minus than Kane -- Justin Schultz (-10) and Nail Yakupov (-10) of the Oilers, Marc Staal (-11) of the Rangers, and Mike Weber (-12) of the Sabres.

Of course, those four play for losing teams with negative goal differentials overall. Kane does not. In fact, the next lowest rating on the ‘Hawks is minus-2, belonging to both Michal Rozsival and Duncan Keith.

“I put myself in that situation so I’ll try and get out of it,” Kane said.

The ‘Hawks are in Winnipeg to play the Jets tomorrow.

Oh, and for any of you “advanced stats” aficionados, yes, Kane’s PDO (a.k.a luck) is very low, at 91.9.