The Chicago Blackhawks dealing Patrick Kane to the New York Rangers finally appears set to happen this evening deal after days of unrest – but the return isn’t great.
The Blackhawks are expected to get back a conditional second-round pick in 2023 and a fourth-round pick, reports NHL insider Frank Servalli.
It could become a first-round pick in either 2024 or 2025 if the Rangers win two playoff rounds.
With the Blackhawks retaining 50 percent of Kane’s $10.5 cap hit, the Arizona Coyotes will reportedly get a third-round pick for paying a portion of his salary.
That would lead to the Rangers only being responsible for just over a $2.6 million cap hit on Kane’s deal.
While it was a long a complicated process it’s not surprising that we got to this point.
It was no secret that Kane would only waive his no-movement clause to play for the Rangers.
But the Rangers had to figure out a number of issues including finding a third party to eat up a portion of Kane’s contract to make the salary work.
The Rangers were forced in the past few days to get creative by trading forward Vitali Kravtsov and make multiple transactions between the AHL and NHL to make a deal work.
But it appears that it’s now over.
The Blackhawks get peanuts in return for one of the NHL’s top-scoring leaders in the past several years.
Normally this kind of deal would at least fetch a legit NHL-owned – but Kane didn’t give the organization any other option and took full advantage of his no-movement clause.
The Blackhawks only got back what the Rangers were willing to give up.
Now the Rangers will hope that Kane will be enough to take them over the top to win its first Stanley Cup since 1994.
The Buffalo, New York native is expected to make his debut on Wednesday with the Rangers.
While the trade hasn’t officially happened yet, it would be shocking if Kane got cold feet and refused to waive his no-move clause.
The trade will become official once the trade call is complete, which is expected to happen sometime tonight.
