With the season looming, we can start to talk about getting back into the swing of things. Patrick Kane is a name that has been thrown around the rumor mill, especially linking him to the Big Apple. With the Buffalo, New York native perhaps unwilling to sit through the Chicago Blackhawks rebuild, the Rangers are one of the favorites to land the future Hall of Fame winger. This has been met with multiple views and takes.
Starting with the obvious, he makes $10.5 million against the cap. For the purposes of making this work, let’s say that Kane comes at 50% retained, making his cap hit $5.25 million. Currently, the New York Rangers are expected to have around $1 million in cap space with a 22-man roster, so Chris Drury and his men would have to find a way to subtract from the roster to add the Buffalo native.
New York could attempt a double retention deal to make it $2.625 million against the cap but that would mean shipping out a lot of different assets to multiple teams to make the deal work and that could be a little rich for the front office. When you’re trying to move heaven and earth for a guy who is on an expiring deal, an almost 34-year-old Patrick Kane is not the best guy to target.
Kane would for certain bolster a lineup that could frankly use it, but there should be a lot of concerns because of both his age and the cost of a rental from a team in Chicago that has been selling things off left and right. But, I haven’t rambled on for this long to not start exploring the idea of adding Kane to the Blueshirts, so let’s do that.
Assume there’s a 2023 1st in there to even open the conversation. It’s going to take a lot. Perhaps one of the promising young defensemen the organization has loved so much. On top of that, you’re likely looking at a member of the kid line to be added to that deal. Is it worth it for the Rangers? No. But Chicago is going to demand the moon and rightfully so. They’ll sell Kane based on the fact he put up 90 points last year on an awful Blackhawks team.
Kane would be a great addition to the roster, but at the expense of gutting the team, it seems really not worth it. Patrick Kane might put up 100 points, and he might end up on a team the Rangers are directly competing with for the Stanley Cup. But they’re also going to be paying an exorbitant amount and it’s going to hamper their future. New York has no reason to be throwing the farm away yet.