Report: Rangers actively looking to shed salary for Patrick Kane trade
The New York Rangers and Patrick Kane appear to be on their way to the long rumored trade that started at last season’s trade deadline.
As Kane’s agent Pat Brisson continues to tell multiple outlets that no decision has been made regarding his client waiving his full no-move clause, the wheels are fully in motion as of late yesterday.
After the Rangers held out Vitali Kravtsov and Jake Leschyshyn for “roster management” purposes. Elliotte Friedman reported the following on his latest 32 Thoughts Podcast.
“The Rangers are sitting out two players, Kravtsov and Leschyshyn,” Friedman began. I heard that Chris Drury was calling teams and asking if there was a way he could move $1.6 million in cap room. If he can’t of that in a trade, I think we all need to watch the waiver wire on Friday and that will tell us exactly what’s going on here.”
Rangers look to shed salary for Patrick Kane trade
Everyone is on high alert for the Rangers to make a move today in order to accrue the needed cap space to try and fit Kane on the roster.
Vitali Kravtsov makes $875,000 and Jake Leschyshyn earns $766,667 for a total of $1.641 million. I’ve mentioned before that the Rangers could move Kravtsov to the Blackhawks in advance of the deal, but both players on the waiver wire would not shock me.
Patrick Kane to the New York Rangers was always considered a foregone conclusion since the pending UFA and his old friend Artemi Panarin have mutually expressed a desire to play with each other again. However, when the Blueshirts traded for Vladimir Tarasenko on February 9, Kane was publicly stunned and disappointed.
On Wednesday, a report from ESPN’s Emily Kaplan revealed that prior to the Tarasenko deal, the two sides were close to a trade before several factors made it fall apart. She then relayed that Kane felt there’s a still a chance a deal could be done. That was followed by the NY Post’s Larry Brooks reporting GM Chris Drury is actively exploring a trade for the three-time Stanley Cup champion.
Forever Blueshirts has been following the possibility of fitting in Kane under the cap since February 14. After the Rangers acquired Tyler Motte for Julien Gauthier, we discussed with PuckPedia to rework the scenario.
Here’s what we determined on February 19:
- Waive Jake Leschyshyn by February 25 to accrue $1.75M+ in cap space
- Trade Vitali Kravtsov to shed $875K more
- Get third party involved to drive Patrick Kane AAV to $2.625M (75%)
As you can see from the Rangers move last night, this scenario is starting to unfold.
Earlier this week, we were told that prospects Vitali Kravtsov and Zac Jones were both in play, as are their first, second, and third round picks in 2023 to get this deal done. Highly-touted prospect Brennan Othmann is unlikely to be dealt according to a knowledgeable source.
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