The New York Rangers are still in the Patrick Kane sweepstakes! The New York Post has just learned that the Rangers will attempt to acquire the Chicago Blackhawks’ forward ahead of the March 3rd deadline.
“According to sources, the Rangers have signalled they will try to make it work if Kane — who has yet to declare his intentions — is willing to waive his no-move clause in order to come to New York. We are told interest has not waned in the least since the acquisition of Vladimir Tarasenko from St. Louis on Feb. 10.”
Kane was visibly upset when Tarasenko was acquired by the Rangers earlier this month. Emily Kaplan of ESPN revealed earlier on Wednesday why Kane was so upset, stating that based on conversations with sources around the league, the Rangers were more advanced than have been reported. There was a path for Kane going to New York, his preferred destination should he leave Chicago, and then suddenly it felt like it was taken away.
There is no doubt, per Larry Brooks again, that it will be quite a financial puzzle for the Rangers to make the trade happen ahead of March 3rd, hinting at a potential three-team trade like we saw with the Toronto Maple Leafs when they landed Ryan O’Reilly from the St. Louis Blues thanks to the Minnesota Wild.
"The obstacles are apparent, both in terms of the cap constraints, which would require identifying a third team to act as a banker in taking a quarter-share $2.625 million cap hit, and the cost in assets such a deal would demand. It would be a tricky deal given the narrow margin with which the Blueshirts are currently operating under the cap."
Kane remains in control as he has a full no-movement clause. We get that he would love to join former teammate Artemi Panarin in New York, however, the Rangers have $1.170 million in projected deadline cap space. There is a belief that the Blue Shirts might have gone with Tarasenko instead upon learning about Kane’s lingering hip issues. He as missed four games this season due to lower body injury, and has posted 14 goals and 42 points in 53 games.
But we bet he is thrilled to hear that the Rangers are still in the mix.
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