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Patrick Kane speculation continues in earnest, showing no signs of abating |
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The Rangers take on the Red Wings tomorrow but other news is of a higher priority. By that I mean Artemi Panarin having a maintenance day today with Vitali Kravtsov skating in his slot. Unless for some reason Panarin will not suit up, which appears not to be the case, that is not what most are spoken of today, Of course, it's Patrick Kane and the possible pendulum swing that a potential deal in general that looked all but dead to bring him to New York may not be on its last breath after all.
Emily Kaplan wrote about the latest around the NHL leading up to the March 3 trade deadline, which includes Kane. If the Rangers, who still might be an option, Kane has to decide if he wants to go elsewhere. That decision will be forthcoming soon and the possibility exists that Kane will remain a Blackhawk, at least until the end of the season.
Summary of what Kaplan wrote, as least as it relates to Kane and the Blackhawks:
What could a Kane to the Rangers deal look like:
I still put the
possibility of this occurring in the slim category. More likely will be the acquisition of a fourth line player, maybe Sam Lafferty, which would allow the team to have some financial flexibility in case of injury to call someone else up and go with a player in the press box. As seen below from the Scott Powers/Arthur Staple column, fitting Kane's salary in - even with two teams eating a portion of the contract - will be challenging. Acquiring both Vladimir Tarasenko, with St. Louis eating 50% of his $7.5 mil salary, and Niko Mikkola, at $1.9 million, earlier than expected in the process ate up a good portion of the remaining cap room. Acquiring Kane would literally leave NY pennies remaining, presuming a deal can be reached.
The Rangers currently could add about $748,000 in contracts, which is to say they can’t add anything right now without subtracting from the roster. If the Rangers added Kane, it would have to be at a drastically reduced cap hit from the $10.5-million hit he carries.
The Blackhawks would need to retain 50 percent and a third team would be needed to retain another half of the remaining half to get it down to a manageable $2.625-million. Then, the Rangers would have to ship out Vitali Kravtsov ($875,000) and Jake Leschyshyn ($766,667), which gets them to around $2.4-million in cap space now. If the Rangers wait until March 3, deadline day, they might get there for the whole $2.625-million. Barely.
But
where there is smoke there is fire so rule nothing out until Kane either says he is going nowhere, is traded elsewhere or the Rangers make another acquisition. This looks to be one that will go down to the March 3 deadline. So if you are tired of this already, oh well, settle in for at least nine more days of this discussion.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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