Rangers reportedly still considering taking a big swing on superstar winger who was recently linked to Toronto
Following the trade in which the Rangers acquired Vladimir Tarasenko from St. Louis, Patrick Kane expressed his displeasure about them essentially being "out" of acquiring his services. However, according to long-time Rangers reporter Larry Brooks, that is not the case.
Brooks reported yesterday that the Rangers and their GM Chris Drury theoretically said "never say never" regarding Kane. According to Brooks, the Rangers will do their best to make it work if Kane is willing to waive his no-trade clause to go to New York. The biggest obstacle for the Rangers if they do acquire Kane is, of course, the salary cap. They have just over $750K in cap space currently with a roster of 22 players instead of 23.
The other issue for the Rangers in their attempt to acquire Kane is the assets it would cost for a double retention similar to what the Leafs had to do with Ryan O'Reilly. They do have first round picks over the next three seasons, as well as a second round pick this year and next, however, they do not have a lot of high-end prospects they can include. They do have Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafrenière, but I would think that dealing either of these two young top-2 draft picks would be a non-starter for the Rangers in any deal for a rental.
With less than 2 weeks until the trade deadline, Kane is running out of time to decide if he wants to stay in Chicago or not and the Rangers need to decide how much of their future they want to give up to acquire the 3-time Stanley Cup Champion.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 23 | 41 ANSWERS Rangers reportedly still considering taking a big swing on superstar winger who was recently linked to Toronto Will the Rangers end up with Patrick Kane even though they already dealt for Tarasenko? | ||
| Yes | 14 | 34.1 % |
| No | 27 | 65.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
