I’m a little lost as to how this would work, but the Hockey News’s Mike Stephens has offered 4 potential trade destinations for one Patrick Kane, a 33-year-old winger with a $10.5 million cap hit, and he includes Kane’s hometown Buffalo Sabres, the already cap-strapped Toronto Maple Leafs, the Nazem Kadri-less Colorado Avalanche, and the…Red Wings?
Detroit Red Wings
2022-23 Cap Space: $8,171,111These Red Wings are no longer rebuilding. They’re going for it — ready to win with a vastly improved roster of promising young talents and established, productive veterans.
Oh, and they also have the most valuable asset any team can have these days: Cap space. Of all the clubs focused primarily on winning games next season, the Red Wings arguably have the most financial wiggle room, sitting with over $8 million in cap space to spend on any further upgrades of their choice. Kane would certainly fit that bill, requiring roughly $3 million to be moved out to make the money work.
It’s right about now that Steve Yzerman might realize giving Ben Chiarot nearly $5 million per year probably wasn’t the best idea. But I digress!
The Red Wings wouldn’t need to tire themselves out too much to fit Kane’s contract onto their books, perhaps by adding a sweetener to Adam Erne’s $2.1 million cap hit along with another guy making near league minimum — maybe, Jake Walman? — in exchange for a late-round pick.
The thought of Kane alongside Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond is a tantalizing vision for anyone — Red Wings management included. With a little elbow grease, they could turn it into reality.
Continued; the thought of Patrick Kane playing in Detroit on the top line is indeed tantalizing.
But I think it’s pretty unrealistic, too. I’m just struggling to see how the Wings could manage to not have to surrender Simon Edvinsson or a first-round pick as a “sweetener” on the Red Wings’ side.
It’s a nice “thought experiment,” but I don’t see some sort of desperate need for the Red Wings to go out and grab Kane.
No.