elite: the best of anything considered collectively, as of a group or class of persons.
Loui Ericsson, Jason Pominville, Scott Hartnell, Jerome "I use a walker when I'm not on the ice" Iginla, Joffery Lupol, and others would argue "the best" with you about Kane. And YES, I purposely picked players I wouldn't call "elite" who outplayed Kane AT LEAST this year if not the last two. No Stamkos, no Ovechkin, not even a ***** Kessler.
Does he have potential? Yep. What does that mean? Still hasn't done shit. Yes he is a damned good scorer when he does it, but if anybody here doesn't think this would have been a better team with Gaborik, Eberle, Tavares, or any of 15 other guys, you're blinded by the Indian.
Hossa outscored him AND Hossa HITS, he backchecks, he poke checks, he plays defense, he scores shorthanded, he's a gorilla with the puck, he is great on special teams, etc., etc., etc.