Finding rare gold at the annual awards gala

Patrick Kane pulled in a mighty big haul of hardware at this year's awards.LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Something about the end of the annual awards signifies the finish line is in sight. Here are some random thoughts on a momentous day for the NHL that included the announcement of a 31st franchise in the home of the awards, Las Vegas, and a first Hart Trophy for the first American-born scoring champion.

King Kane

Let's start with Patrick Kane. It wasn't quite a Carey Price-type hardware haul, but it was pretty close for Kane, who won the Hart Trophy as league MVP, Art Ross Trophy as scoring champ and the Ted Lindsay Award as the player-elected MVP. Nice touch for Kane to say that "Batman Returns" was…