TEMPE, Ariz. — The process wasn’t quick, but the outcome couldn’t be more meaningful nonetheless.
Patrick Kane, for the first time in 16 years, is not a member of the Blackhawks.
The Hawks are expected on Tuesday night to deal the greatest player in their franchise’s history to the Rangers — as has been heavily anticipated over the past week — for 2023 second- and fourth-round draft picks, multiple outlets reported Tuesday.
It’s an earth-shaking move, one that officially marks the end of the greatest era of hockey in Chicago history. Kane, arguably the best American-born NHL player of all time, is now headed to New York.
There, he will not only unite with former Hawks linemate and close friend Artemi Panarin but also longtime Central Division nemesis Vladimir Tarasenko, whose acquisition by the Rangers earlier this month seemingly closed the door on Kane’s favored destination. Kane, who preferred to move closer to his family in Buffalo, was surprisingly honest and public with his disappointment at that point.
It turns out he needn’t have minded. The Rangers managed to ultimately fit him in as well, creating arguably the closest thing the NHL has seen to a “superteam” in the salary cap era.
It just took them some time and some inconvenience to do so, playing multiple games shorthanded to protect against injuries and accumulate tiny additional portions of cap space each day.
The Hawks will retain 50% of Kane’s salary-cap hit through the end of the season, as expected. The Coyotes will reportedly retain another 25% as a third-party broker in order to make the trade work within the extremely tight situation, receiving the Rangers’ 2025 third-round pick as reimbursement.
For the Hawks, the return is nowhere near what they hoped or imagined when looking ahead to this point at the start of the season, but general manager Kyle Davidson had his hands tied.
Kane wielded the powers of his no-trade clause to limit his options to one — the Rangers — and thus eliminated any chances of a bidding war breaking out, despite eager interest from other contenders.
The second-round pick reportedly could improve to a first-round pick in 2024 or 2025, however, if the Rangers advance to the Eastern Conference Final this season.
Even the possibility of that is arguably a minor victory for Davidson given his lack of leverage. It’s an agreement similar to the one he reached with the Wild when trading Marc-Andre Fleury last season, although that condition didn’t end up activating.
This story will be updated.
