Will Patrick Kane end up a New York Ranger?
Patrick Kane was a first overall pick in the 2007 NHL entry draft and spent his entire 16 seasons in the NHL as a Blackhawk. Since Kane has been with Chicago for his entire career, fans are eagerly waiting to see where he will end up as late as the trade deadline Friday, March 3rd. The trade that has slowly been coming together involves the right wingman being sent to Broadway for the New York Rangers.
When the Rangers traded forward Sammy Blais and defenseman prospect Hunter Skinner to the St. Louis Blues for Vladimir Tarasenko, getting Kane to New York became more difficult. Tweets and posts spread after acquiring Tarasenko, expressing Kane’s feelings on the trade, as he allegedly wants to end up in New York. "It’s not like the happiest I’ve been to hear about a trade," Kane said on February 10th. "If things were going to happen, that was a team I was definitely looking at.”
Putting a possible delay in the possible Kane trade involved defenseman Ryan Lindgren being injured in the Washington Capitals game on Saturday after being pushed into the boards by Washington’s TJ Oshie. Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant after the loss, claimed, “I’m disappointed it wasn’t a penalty, a five-minute major. For me, it’s a cheap hit.” Now, Lindgren is on “day-to-day,” according to the team's coaching staff. Before Sunday's game, it was announced that Ryan Carpenter has been recalled from Hartford while Jake Leschyshyn cleared waivers and has been sent down to Hartford.
On Sunday’s win against the LA Kings, Ryan Carpenter and Braden Schneider were on the bench but did not play. Prior to the game, news spread that Schnider was sent down to the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack. Schnider and Carpenter are players who thrive with the Rangers, so why were they benched during Sunday night's game, especially after Carpenter had just been recalled from the AHL?
The Rangers have been very careful with managing their roster, slowly doing everything they can to create enough cap space to bring Kane to the Garden but maintaining the right amount of players on the roster. Along with Schnider and Carpenter being benched Sunday, Blackhawks players Kane and Lafferty did not play on Saturday against the San Jose Sharks due to “roster management.”
It appears that both the Blackhawks and the Rangers are maneuvering rosters to be able to send Kane to New York. With players on both teams not playing in this weekend's games, it seems like the Kane trade is slowly but finally coming together, and is possible by the end of the week, Kane will end his 16-year career with the Blackhawks and put on a blueshirt jersey.