After Vladimir Tarasenko chose a club from the Canadian capital, there were no more intrigues left for the domestic fan on the NHL market. There are still some good players available (Tomas Tatar, Matt Damba) and fighters for the lower links and pairs. However, one powerful figure still stands out in the market: Patrick Kane.
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The NSA market in the NHL has always been considered the worst place to sign big names, unlike the NBA. A combination of factors works for this: clubs can retain the rights to their players for a long time, and if a hockey player expresses a desire to go on the market, they manage to trade it and get some assets. John Tavares was a rare example in 2018 and, as reporters later found out, he misled Islanders management about his vague intentions, so the club didn’t have time to sell him.
However, Kane is a figure that surpasses Prime Tavares by an order of magnitude. John, at the time of moving to Toronto, had never surpassed 90 points and only made it through the first round of the playoffs once. Kane, in the penultimate season, when everything was already beginning to fall apart in the Hawks, was able to score 92 points without the most stellar partners and coaches. Not by statistics, but by his contribution to the game, Patrick can already be considered the best American hockey player in history. If you have enough health and strength, in about three years, Kane will surpass Brett Hull on points. Yet with all of this, Patrick is still sitting out without a contract, and this at a time when most of the league is already staffed, leaving very few openings available.
The main reason for this is clear. At the end of May, the striker underwent hip surgery and was out for several months. In conditions of maximum turbulence, Kane turns from a superstar into a veteran with an unclear status (not everyone successfully returns to hockey after such procedures), on whom it is risky to spend a lot of money. It is clear that a healthy Patrick could count on the market to receive at least $6-7 million, but using a cheat code on health will not work.
patrick kane
Photo: ZUMA/TASS
Kane, like his partner and friend Jonathan Toews, would probably like to finish his career in Chicago. A couple of years ago, it was the 19-88 quibbles that were one reason the Hawks ripped off their cautious rebuild and squandered it in the 2021 offseason. The failure of this venture prompted a complete change in direction. of the team, and the new one entered the most severe restructuring in the style of scorched earth. Plus, there’s a feeling the new leaders want to get rid of everyone involved in the 2010 team, around which the Kyle Beach scandal erupted: only that year’s Philadelphia Cup has yet to be delivered.
Here you can remember why Kane was not happy in 2020:
“The backbone of the team is fed up.” In Chicago, a serious scandal breaks out
The club’s legends had no interest in dragging themselves along the bottom with their native club, and the team’s behavior last summer, when normal players were discarded for free, left the feeling that the super group was being kicked out of the club. by the way. . “He and Johnny wanted to go as the Hawks, but the situation was different,” said the player’s agent, Pat Brisson. The plot “the amazing past in the person of Kane passes the baton to the magnificent present in the person of Bedard” would be beautiful and cinematic, but the relationship between player and management is clearly damaged.
Right now, seven NHL teams are over the cap (five more are also over the cap, but have a loophole in the form of an LTIR), and five more have less than a million free. It is clear that most of them are contenders for the Cup, where Kane wants to play. Patrick himself will choose the team, which he already showed at the deadline: the Rangers clearly had other plans for trades, but No. 88 fell into his hands when he made it clear to management that he would block any trade to any other team. .
“There are clubs in the league that are already ready to sign Kane, pay him a salary and provide him with the necessary treatment and rehabilitation. You can choose this option or wait. The problem with waiting is the salary cap,” an NHL general manager told ESPN. However, the player’s agent is not worried, Pat Brisson told the press: “You can offer him a one-year contract for $ 7 million, and not the fact that we will consider it, because this is not what he needs.” We will wait for the right moment, assess the entire situation and make the right decision.”
Brisson made it quite clear that money is not the main thing for his client. Makes sense: Kane made $113 million before taxes during his NHL career (and that’s not counting advertising contracts). Kane, along with Toews, became the first players in the post-lockout NHL to break a $10 million ceiling in the summer of 2014. Unless we’re aware of some horrendous gambling debt, the cup is over. important to Kane than money. right now.
Patrick Kane and Artemy Panarin
Photo: Frank Franklin II/AP/TASS
And this, most likely, crosses Buffalo out of the possible options. Many journalists sent Kane to his hometown this summer, but it is far from the fact that Patrick’s best memories are connected with his homeland: there he beat up a cab driver for 20 cents change, and then got into a scandalous history with accusations of rape. In addition, Patrick himself never publicly swore his love for the Blades, and the player was booed by local fans a couple of times. Of course, the player’s lyrical feelings may arise, but no mutual movement is visible so far.
But there are no other obvious options on the market yet – most clubs simply already have 23 players. It should be noted that Colorado, which has a little more than $ 2 million under the roof, but Rantanen and Nichushkin are already in the right winger position (he can transfer to the left wing, however), to the Rangers for Panarín? There’s already a middle-aged team there, who this year will probably try to play harder, not in the way that Kane, who isn’t especially fond of defense, is used to.
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In general, the cases of Kane and Tarasenko are similar – there is a slider in front of them, where the movement of the “money” indicator symmetrically reduces the “Championship Chance” indicator. Kane, apparently, isn’t satisfied with three rings, and you shouldn’t be surprised if he signs a year’s minimum salary in the fall.
