There are a lot of hockey rumors floating around the internet, as we inch closer to the NHL’s trade deadline. A lot. And one of the hardest things to do is employ some level of discernment in terms of what we we believe and what we should take with a grain of salt (or the entire shaker sometimes).
In more than 16 years of covering the Blackhawks, I have tried to consider the source of the rumor before repeating it/giving it credence. In this space, I continue to try to filter what I repeat and respond to because I don’t think you want to read a “saw this on Facebook and it’s clearly crap for all of the reasons” column every 2-4 hours for a month.
With that being said, there was a lot of conversation about Patrick Kane last night. So here’s what credible places are saying about the Blackhawks’ star.
Getting a strong shutdown presence on defense has to be the No. 1 priority, right? After all, this is already the top-scoring team in the NHL. Given the cap gymnastics required for the Oilers to do anything right now, it might be tough to get help on defense and still pursue Kane.
With all of that being said…
Here’s my two cents: Dallas appears to have been in this for the longest time, and they’re motivated to make a run with their veteran core before it’s too late. Kane has played with and against Tyler Seguin and Joe Pavelski for years so there’s some familiarity with their roster. And, with the Rangers out of the picture, the Stars need for a top-six RW might be the most obvious for a team with seemingly good chances of at least winning their conference.
After Dallas it’s really a wild card. Carolina has never paid big for a rental, but they would likely be asked to here. Vegas has never had a problem selling the farm for a star player, but does Kane really fix their problems or should they maybe focus their cap space on their goaltending cluster… The Kings are an interesting play because they have plenty of potential assets to make a deal, but they’re supposedly in heavy on Jakob Chychrun. I’m not sure they can/would do both.
Toronto would be a fun story but they don’t have any cap space. Neither does Edmonton, and they are looking to make a bold add to their blue line so Kane as a second power play weapon at his pricetag might not fit or make sense.
There will always be a team that sneaks into these conversations late in the game. What about Minnesota or Colorado or Florida or the Islanders?
And what happens if/when Kane decides to not move away from his family for a couple short months. What happens then?
The good news is the Blackhawks have a few players who are drawing strong interest, and the front office has done a nice job of lining up draft capital well in advance of the deadline so they already have a lot of early picks in the next two drafts whether a trade materializes now or not (I suspect at least a couple will).