What we’re hearing about a potential deal between Patrick Kane’s Rangers and Blackhawks

Blackhawks fullback Connor Murphy first sensed something different when Patrick Kane sat outside Friday’s practice in San Jose.

That feeling only grew on Saturday, however, as the Blackhawks and Kane decided the star winger would sit out the team’s game against the Sharks and head back to Chicago to decide what he wanted to do next.

“Even when you kind of know, all year long, there’s chances of anybody going—you hear the grumbling for so long—it’s still annoying…that first day when the guy doesn’t come,” Murphy said after the Blackhawks’ morning ski. . “It feels weird. I think it will be more difficult when or if things are official.”

And when that guy is Kane, a future Hall of Famer who played all 1,161 of his regular season games with the Blackhawks, the feeling is even stronger.

Murphy added, “It’s kind of hard to put into words, the impact he’s had over the years and the career he’s had with Chicago and what helped get the Black Hawks to join him.” “It’s hard to express what it means not to wear a Blackhawks jacket.”

That looks more and more like Saturday’s reality. Here’s what we know so far:

What is the latest news about Patrick Kane?

Multiple teams have expressed interest in Kane, but with the condition of complete immobility, he controls his destination. And in the past few days, he has told Blackhawks that his favorite destination is the Rangers.

Kane left the Blackhawks behind in San Jose on Saturday morning and headed back to Chicago. Nobody came out and said they officially waived the no-movement clause.

“Based on the current state of Patrick’s situation, we collectively felt it was more appropriate that he not play during this period of consideration,” Keane’s agent Pat Bryson said. the athletePierre Lebrun.

Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson similarly framed Kane’s departure.

“He was with the team yesterday, but as of today, he’s back in Chicago, just for the situation to rectify himself, either way,” said Richardson.

Kane accepting a deal with the Rangers seems inevitable at this point, but there are variables that keep her from being divorced.

What else happened with the Rangers?

Well, there’s a lot, even if you leave out the 6-3 bombardment they received from the Capitals in Washington on Saturday afternoon, their third straight loss in regulation.

The Rangers traded Vitaly Kravtsov to the Canucks for AHL forward Will Lockwood and the seventh 2,026 player during Saturday’s game, knocking Kravtsov off the roster in one of the few moves necessary to make room for Kane. We all thought Kravtsov, who has been a healthy scratch in all but one game over the past month, would go to the Hawks in Kane’s final deal, but teams were terrified at the prospect of the 23-year-old Kravtsov returning to Russia once his one-year deal expired. summer.

And Jake Lechichin went on waivers, also during Saturday’s Rangers game. His removal from the roster, combined with Kravtsov’s exit, would allow the Rangers-Hawks deal Kane to be completed two days before Friday’s deadline. According to the good people in FacebookPedia And cap friendlythe Rangers will have accumulated enough space by Wednesday to make the supposed $2.625 million value of Kane’s cap fit.

Of course, the only thing that could spoil Kane’s deal is an injury because the Rangers likely won’t be able to keep more than 21 players on the roster until the end of the regular season. Ryan Lindgren got what coach Gerard Gallant called a “bad hit, dirty hit” from TJ O’Shea in the first period on Saturday, and Lindgren left Capital One Arena with his left arm in the sling.

If Lindgren is out long, it would be a huge blow to the Rangers defense, but if he’s out for several weeks, the Rangers could put him on injured reserve for an extended period and use his $3 million hit and miss max. Limit. That would allow Kane’s deal to go through the day Lindgren goes to LTIR and the Rangers fill out their roster, either with the help of an AHL defense or even another deal for a left-handed defenseman.

What can we expect in a trade?

It appears as though the parameters for a deal are already in place and Rangers General Manager Chris Drury has stuck to his position about not giving up another first-round pick, whether in the June draft or any year ahead. All the while, even before Rangers traded one of their two first starts of 2023 for Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola, the feeling in the league was that Drury would only take Kane if it was on Rangers’ terms – meaning no waiver of the first or the first. A prime prospect as Brennan Osman.

With Kravtsov out for Vancouver, the list of available bodies to move from the potential pool remains the same. Zac Jones might be the most attractive player since he has played NHL games and is as close to being a regular in the NHL as anyone in the system. It’s unlikely that Drury would be willing to part with Matthew Robertson, Will Coyle, or Dylan Garand; Adam Sikora, the runner-up in the 2022 championship, may also be banned.

But the main goal of the bargain is to avoid giving up first-timers, and Drury seems to have succeeded there.

Although the package would satisfy the Rangers, the Blackhawks couldn’t be happier. They were hoping for a much bigger Kane back. The Blackhawks had always been doing it right with a franchise icon, but they were hoping for a first-round draft pick and a quality prospect for him. With the time Kane was indecisive and once the Blackhawks gave him one to deal with, General Manager Kyle Davidson lost any leverage he might have had.

Do the guards feel distracted?

The players said no after Saturday’s ugly loss, but Gallant wasn’t so sure.

“Something must have been going on,” he said. “We didn’t play the game we needed to play.”

They scored just six goals during a 0-3-1 slide. Igor Shesterkin was pulled after allowing five goals in two periods on Saturday and allowing at least four goals in four straight games, the worst career skid. Tarasenko, who is supposed to slide to the right side with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, has yet to adapt to his new team. And the Rangers still struggle to play consistent defense, especially against rushing teams.

The sooner Kane’s saga ends, the better.

(Photo: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)