From The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus, Scott Powers and Max Bultman:
Kane spent most of his career with the Blackhawks, but Detroit had become home to his second act after first signing with the Red Wings in 2023. Last season, he hit a pair of major milestones for the Red Wings, tallying his 500th goal and becoming the highest-scoring U.S.-born player ever.
Losing Kane will sting the Red Wings’ offensive attack, as he was one of their top scorers, even at age 37. His 16 goals and 57 points in 67 games trailed only Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond, and perhaps even more importantly, he remained one of the team’s most essential contributors down the stretch. His 24 points in 22 games since March 1 trailed only DeBrincat, his linemate.
Perhaps most importantly, Kane was the Red Wings’ third-leading five-on-five scorer last season with 31 points and is a key driver on Detroit’s power play, which ranks fourth in the NHL (24.2 percent) since his first game with Detroit in December 2023. Even in a down year last season — the Red Wings power play ranked 12th at 22.6 percent — that unit has been one of the few reliable ways they’ve scored, with five-on-five offense in particular a key issue for the team.
Now, they’ll take another blow there, as his departure comes at a time of major change for the franchise. Larkin, their captain and top-line center, has requested a trade and while he currently remains on Detroit’s roster, losing both him and Kane in one offseason would subtract 50 goals from the lineup. That’s hard to replace. So, too, is his stature in the locker room, as one of the game’s all-time greats and a player with substantial big-game experience whom most of the Red Wings’ young players grew up admiring.
It also raises questions about the future of DeBrincat, Detroit’s leading scorer and a close friend of Kane’s dating back to their time in Chicago. DeBrincat grew up in Metro Detroit, but with Kane now gone and Larkin on the way out, will DeBrincat — who has one year left on his contract — commit to staying long term?
Continued (paywall)
