New York Rangers acquire Patrick Kane from Chicago Blackhawks
After a week-plus of rampant speculation, the New York Rangers have made their second big splash of the trade deadline and their third trade of the last few weeks, acquiring winger Patrick Kane from the Chicago Blackhawks for a conditional 2023 second-round pick and a fourth-round pick.
Breaking: It's Showtime.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 28, 2023
Sources tell @DailyFaceoff: #NYR expected to acquire Patrick Kane for 2023 2nd Rd Pick (can become a 1st) and a 4th Rd Pick. #NYR and #Blackhawks plan to conduct 3-team trade call tonight.
Possible Kane makes #NYR debut Wed in Philadelphia vs. #Flyers. pic.twitter.com/GsNeQlk48E
Kane, 34, is a pending unrestricted free agent in the final season of an eight-year deal that carries a $10.5 million cap charge annually. That substantial cap figure, a nagging hip injury to Kane, and the Rangers' acquisition of Vladimir Tarasenko made a deal like this unlikely, though not impossible not all that long ago.
Then the Rangers placed Jake Leschyshyn on waivers, traded Vitali Kravtsov to the Vancouver Canucks, and suddenly they had the cap space to make it happen. Kane travelled home to Chicago as part of the recent wave of “trade-related” scratches, and suddenly it seemed like a matter of when not if. And now we have an answer to that question.
It's been a down year for Kane offensively – he's on pace for the fewest points in his career since his 61-game 2014-15 season – but he's taken off of late, with 10 points in his last four contests. The hope in New York is that this is a sign of things to come; that he's over the hip injury and ready to contribute to a team with legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations.
The Blackhawks, meanwhile, get to add to their embarrassment-of-riches-level war chest of futures with a pair of draft picks, which already had them on pace to make seven selections through the first three rounds of this year's draft. Now, that's how you rebuild.
