NEWSLETTER
There’s a lot going on around the NHL and the Blackhawks haven’t played in a few days. There’s an increasing amount of buzz around an old friend who appears to be closer to finding a new home. The Patrick Kane free agent market is taking shape, and the rumors are starting to fly like they did in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline last year.
So let’s take a look at the teams being named and assess their needs/ability to sign him.
Patrick Kane Market
There has been a lot of buzz around Kane’s name in the last couple weeks. According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, “Agent Pat Brisson continues to move the process forward on UFA Patrick Kane and there are Zoom calls scheduled for later this week with interested teams, involving both coaches and GMs.”
Which teams are dialing in?
Shannon additionally reported Florida, Tampa, Carolina and Dallas are all interested. Adrian Dater recently tweeted the Avalanche are in the mix. Larry Brooks of the New York Post is reporting the Rangers won’t be in the mix, but I’m hearing differently. LeBrun mentioned the Sabres, quoting their general manager:
“Yeah we are a team that checked in on him once he became a free agent, and we asked them to keep us posted and that’s what they’ve done,” Sabres GM Kevyn Adams said. “We’ll see where it goes from there.”
So let’s stack some odds, here shall we?
Buffalo
Current Cap Space: $8,941,434
Need: Growing
Winning Chances: Shrinking
After their game on Tuesday night, Sabres head coach Don Granato said Tage Thompson will likely miss “significant time” after leaving the game with apparently two injuries, the second of which appeared to be a shot hitting him in the hand/wrist area. So their need and their cap space could increase if he winds up on LTIR (which would be a brutal hit). They’re presently in seventh place in the Atlantic and have a minus-six goal differential.
Dallas
Current Cap Space: $562,672
Need: Modest
Winning Chances: Strong
David Pagnotta at The Fourth Period has been all over the Dallas connection since the 2022 draft. Kane’s played with Tyler Seguin before, Joe Pavelski is the poster child (is a poster adult such a thing?) for a career second act taking off brilliantly, and the Stars are a wagon. They enter Wednesday with a five-point gap between themselves and second-place Colorado in the Central and have a plus-13 goal differential in 15 games. This would be an all-in, luxury addition for the Stars. Their only problem is the lack of cap space. Who goes?
Toronto
Current Cap Space: $59,999
Need: Meh
Winning Chances: Meh
The Leafs are tied for third in the Atlantic with Detroit and have only a plus-one goal differential in 15 games. They’re sixth in the league in goals scored with 55 in 15 games. Offense is NOT THEIR PROBLEM. Defense and goaltending is. So why not go sign another sniper you can’t afford to make your chances of winning the Stanley Cup even more… meh. Like Dallas, Toronto would need to do some heavy lifting to make the financial gymnastic work to fit Kane, and that might mean more of a shake-up than they’re willing to make at this point.
NY Rangers
Current Cap Space: $10,262,500
Need: Meh
Winning Chances: Great
With all due respect to Brooks, this is sexy. The Rangers have the cap space to make the deal, and might be the best team in the NHL right now. They have the second-best goal differential in the Eastern Conference (+16), are phenomenal defensively (31 goals allowed in 14 games) and his buddy the Breadman is still there. The only question to me is why mess with the chemistry if they’re already rolling? Well… to win the whole damn thing, that’s why. And adding Kane might be that move.
Carolina
Current Cap Space: $2,055,724
Need: Strong
Winning Chances: Meh
I understand why Carolina is kicking the tires, but they’re really the most confusing team for me at this point early in the season. A team that was supposed to be strong on the back end has huge questions in net, their blue line has been underwhelming — and that might be too polite — and they don’t have the cap space to likely afford Kane, much less fix their other needs.
Florida
Current Cap Space: $7,615,000
Need: Meh
Winning Chances: Good
The Panthers have won five straight and their 21 points are third-best in the Eastern Conference. They have enough cap space to make an interesting offer, but they likely need to move some bodies to make it all work in the end. They’re going to get their top defensive pair — Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour — back at some point and then they could really start something. Remember: they made it to the Final last year. But with Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett as their top two right wings, how does 88 feel about maybe being the third option there?
Tampa
Current Cap Space: $7,400,000
Need: Meh
Winning Chances: Okay
Keep in mind here that their cap space only looks this good because they’ve had Andrei Vasilevskiy on LTIR, and he’s already started skating. It would be especially ironic for Blackhawks fans if the Bolts felt that Patrick Kane on a line with Brandon Hagel was enough to get them back to the mountain top, and that might be the play. Or maybe he would skate with another former No. 1 overall pick, Steven Stamkos? Either way, the Bolts need to be a lot better defensively to win the Cup than they are right now so I’m not necessarily buying a run at Kane and the return of their future Hall of Fame netminder as the solve.
