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Patrick Kane is finally a New York ranger. It took the Rangers some time to find the salary cap space to get Kane, but they were able to pull him off on Tuesday afternoon.
The Rangers sent a conditional 2023 second-round pick and a 2023 fourth-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Kane. If the Rangers win two playoff rounds this year, the conditional second-round pick will become a first-round pick in 2024 or 2025.
The Arizona Coyotes participated as a third party to retain a portion of Kane’s salary and allowed the Rangers to fit him under the cap. In exchange for keeping 25% of Kane’s cap hit, the Coyotes received a 2025 third-round pick from the Rangers.
Let’s dive in for a deeper look at how the three teams fared in this deal.
New York Rangers
Slam dunks don’t get much easier than this. The Rangers were Shaquille O’Neal playing with a Little Tikes hoop.
Kane had a full no-movement clause, and that benefited Rangers in a big way. New York was Kane’s preferred trade destination, and as a result, the Rangers only had to give up a conditional second-round pick and a fourth-round pick to acquire one of the greatest American players in NHL history .
Kane’s detractors will say he is just a shell of the player who led the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cups and won the Hart Trophy in 2016. At 34 years old, Kane is probably no longer that player, but rumors of his death . might be at least a little exaggerated.
While it’s true that Kane is on pace for one of the worst seasons of his career and their defensive game has suffered in recent years, the quality of the roster around him is terrible.
For example, Max Domi, Sam Lafferty, Andreas Athanasiou, Philipp Kurashev, Jason Dickinson, and Tyler Johnson were Kane’s linemates in the 2022-23 season. Despite being placed in less than ideal circumstances, Kane has still managed 16 goals and 29 assists in 54 games.
Is Kane going to return to posting 30 goal and 80 point seasons? Probably not, but the last few seasons in Chicago probably aren’t the biggest indicator of what he has left in the tank. In addition, Kane could be reunited with former Blackhawks lineman Artemi Panarin in New York.
Kane and Panarin played two seasons together in Chicago from 2015 to 2017. In that time, Kane managed 80 goals and 115 assists for 195 points in 164 games. That span also included his MVP season in 2015-16. If Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant brings Kane and Panarin back together, that might be the spark that ignites Kane again.
The bottom line is that the Rangers got another offensive superstar at a bargain price. Kane’s best days may be behind him, but it’s hard to believe that a Rangers side that now has one of the best starting six groups in the league won’t improve. It will be a tough task to keep their playoff counterparts off the blueboard. Grade — A+
Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks’ hands were tied here. They could let Kane have his swan song in Chicago for the rest of the season and risk losing him for nothing in free agency or trading him to the Rangers. That’s it. Those were their two options.
This decision was probably not easy for Chicago. Kane is a franchise icon. He has three Stanley Cup rings and a Hart Trophy to his name. Number 88 will one day go up into the rafters at the United Center, and a statue of him will sit outside the arena.
In choosing to part ways with Kane before the trade deadline, the Blackhawks had little leverage due to his no-movement clause. At some point, this trade was more about doing Kane a favor and giving him a chance to win another Cup than anything else.
Given all these factors, this result is disappointing. There was no guaranteed first round pick, no young roster player, and no prospect.
Under more normal circumstances, Kane would have gone for a king’s ransom at the deadline, but these were not normal circumstances. The Blackhawks gave up a legendary player for the kind of return that a middle front six commanded. At least Chicago fans can root for Kane and the Blackhawks in the playoffs with the hope that the conditional second-round pick will become a first-round pick. Grade — D+
Arizona Coyotes
Keeping an all-time great player salary for a mid-round draft pick. That’s called the Coyotes Special.
As a team that often flirts with the salary cap floor, the Coyotes need to make these types of moves as they try to climb out of the NHL basement. Fortunately, the Jacob Chychrun should return little more than a third-round pick. Grade — A-
