If Patrick Kane is to come to Rangers, it will be a complicated deal
Chicago right wing Patrick Kane celebrates a hat trick during the second period of the team's NHL game against the Maple Leafs on Feb. 19 in Chicago. Credit: AP/Erin Hooley
ARLINGTON, Va. — Out in San Jose, where Chicago was skating in preparation for Saturday’s game against the Sharks, winger Patrick Kane did not practice because of what the team called “maintenance.’’
Here, at the Washington Capitals’ practice facility, where the Rangers were having an optional practice in advance of Saturday’s game against the Capitals, Vitali Kravtsov and Jake Leschyshyn — the two forwards who were held out of the Rangers’ 4-1 loss to the Red Wings on Thursday night in Detroit — did not skate either. “Roster management,’’ the Rangers called it.
So speculation was spreading like wildfire about the possibility that the Rangers will acquire Kane, a 16-year veteran and three-time Stanley Cup winner with Chicago. And Rangers coach Gerard Gallant saw no point in trying to pretend all the talk hasn’t been getting to his players.
“I can’t say no,’’ he said. “It always does. It’s this time of the year, and it’s tough on some players, but at the end of the day, you’re trying to make your team better every day. And that’s what management does.
“It’s going to be over in a week’s time [the NHL trade deadline is March 3], but you’ve just got to focus on playing the games. And I think we lost a little bit of focus [Thursday] night, and I thought we looked a little bit tired for the first time.’’
It was generally believed that after the Rangers obtained right wing Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola from St. Louis on Feb. 9 and acquired gritty winger Tyler Motte from Ottawa on Sunday, they were just about done with their deadline shopping.
They had enough salary-cap space available to add a minimum salary, and with Kravtsov reportedly having requested a trade, there was a chance that general manager Chris Drury might ship him out.
But Kane, the owner of a full no-move clause that gives him the power to dictate if, when and to whom he can be traded, expressed his disappointment after the Rangers traded for Tarasenko and said the Rangers were a team in which he had interest. And so, the Kane-to-the-Rangers talk refused to go away.
A report in the New York Post this week said the Rangers are investigating the possibility of trading for Kane, a complicated pursuit that would necessitate having Chicago retain half of Kane’s salary and a third team retaining half of the remainder. Even then, it would require some fairly elaborate salary-cap gymnastics to make it actually happen, including possibly shedding one more salary, likely defenseman Ben Harpur.
First things first, though: Kravtsov and Leschyshyn would have to go to open space to make it even a possibility. So when they were held out of the lineup Thursday, it led to all the speculation.
Reportedly, Kane still hasn’t officially told Chicago management whether he’s willing to waive his no-move clause, but timing plays a part, too.
Because space under the salary cap accrues daily, Kravtsov and Leschyshyn — and Harpur, if he’s involved — have to be moved early enough for the Rangers to accrue enough space at the deadline to acquire Kane at one-quarter of his $10.5 million salary-cap hit.
All of the players must be placed on waivers before they can be sent down to the minors, but none was waived on Friday, and Harpur was one of 13 players who practiced.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
