Patrick Kane is more than halfway through a historic season, and has a chance to add to that in the final three months.
The 27-year-old Blackhawks star is looking to become the first American-born player to win the Hart Trophy for league MVP, the Art Ross Trophy for most points during the regular season and Rocket Richard Trophy for most goals. He currently leads the NHL at the All-Star break with 30 goals and 73 points, which is 15 more than Stars captain Jamie Benn (58) for second.
In his annual midseason poll, TSN's Bob McKenzie asked 27 of the 30 NHL coaches — who were not allowed to vote for their own players or team — to vote on multiple categories, including the league's top player. To no one's surprise, Kane was the runaway winner with 22 votes. Benn received three votes, Washington's Alex Ovechkin tallied one, and so did Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews.
[SHOP: Buy a Patrick Kane jersey]
Artemi Panarin was also voted the league's top rookie, racking up 12 votes. Detroit's Dylan Larkin was right behind him with 10.
Duncan Keith (three votes) and Joel Quenneville (four votes) each came in at No. 3 in their respective categories of best defenseman and top coach.
As for which teams coaches believe will reach the Stanley Cup Final, the Capitals are the clear-cut front-runner to win the Eastern Conference with 22 votes while the Blackhawks emerged as the favorite to represent the Western Conference again, accumulating 15 votes compared to Los Angeles' 11. But most coaches believe Washington will come out on top, taking 16 votes compared to Chicago's nine.
