I've been saying for a year that Evander Kane's name is being bandied about in trade talks between the Buffalo Sabres and a few Western Conference clubs, including Anaheim, Minnesota, San Jose, Vancouver and Los Angeles. Each of these clubs scouted the Sabres heavily in the three months that led up to the March 1 NHL trade deadline. Kane was not traded by Murray. Perhaps the compensation was less than Murray had expected.
I report on the chatter that I hear for my sources.
Tim Murray was Kane's gateway to Buffalo and now that Jason Botterill has succeeded Murray, one wonders how long it will be until Kane is moved out of Buffalo. Botterill can trade Kane now and fill a gaping hole in his top four D group.
With the Vegas expansion draft and the NHL Draft fast approaching, Kane trade speculation is not just reverberating inside the NHL, but also in the media.
The trade buzz surrounding Kane is gaining momentum.
Two weeks ago, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported that Kane's name has been linked to the LA Kings. This news coincides with the my reports.
On Friday, TSN's Darren Dreger told former Sabres Andrew Peters, Craig Rivet and Marty Biron on their "The Instigators" program that Kane is a highly sought after commodity on the summer 2017 trade market.
“Much speculation about Evander Kane and where might he end up,” said NHL Insider Darren Dreger sais. “How eager are Jason Botterill and the Sabres to move him. What I would say to all of that is where there’s smoke there’s fire. There’s clear interest in Evander Kane.
“The problem that Buffalo has in moving Kane is then you open up a pretty big hole on that left side. So that’s not to say that they’re reluctant to trade him. Maybe they’ve got pieces – and you guys can speak to this better than I – who can fill that void, or they acquire something in return, or they can make another transaction, or they can sign a free agent."
Botterill can employ the offense-by-committee model to offset the 48 goals (40 at 5v5) that Kane scored for the Sabres the pst two seasons in Buffalo.
Botterill has prospect wingers in Rochester who are chomping at the bit to warn a full time job in Buffalo. Justin Bailey scored 23 goals in 52 games for the Amerks last season. Bailey scored 9 goals in 70 games in 2015-16. Nick Baptiste scored 25 goals in 59 games. Baptiste scored 13 goal in 62 games in 2015-16. Swedish sniper and 2016 first rounder Alex Nylander scored 10 goals in 65 games. Hudson Fasching scored 8 goals in 37 games. Botterill is a proponent of drafting and developin kids in the minors. It's hard to argue with the Wilkes Barre Scranton development model that the Pittsburgh Penguins currently are adhering to. The Penguins are the premiere NHL club in terms of filling NHL roster vacancies with top prospects like Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Connor Sheary, Carter Rowney, Scott Wilson, Tom Kuhnhackl and Brian Dumoulin.
Botterill also has time to assess his Buffalo veteran performers like Jack Eichel, Samson Reinhart, Ryan O'Reilly, Kyle Okposo, Marcus a Foligno and other. Each of these vets will tell you that they have more offense to give in 2017-18.
“But there is a high level of interest in Evander Kane and primarily, my understanding, it’s coming from veteran teams around the NHL who are kind of in that ‘win now’ mode. So they’re less concerned with whatever the whole package of Evander Kane might be, and more interested in the fact that he’s a hell of a hockey player who might help them win or get into the playoffs and challenge for a Stanley Cup.”
“It’s only wild speculation,” said Dreger.
“I’m not getting specifics from the people that I’m talking with as to who Buffalo might be engaged with. But when I look around the NHL, I mean San Jose has got to be hungry to win. They’ve got a good balance of young and old there. In fact, they’ve got a couple of pieces they’ve got to figure out in Marleau and Joe Thornton, who are pending unrestricted free agents. I’m sure they’d be happy to bring both of those guys back on one-year deals, but I know in Thornton’s case he wants three years. So maybe there’s something there.
“Go down the road to Anaheim. Anaheim has to be disappointed with another early exit from the Stanley Cup playoffs. They felt they were trending nicely along… for getting back to the Stanley Cup Final, and weren’t able to do that.
“So there’s a couple of Western Conference teams that off the top of my head might be interested, but I’m not certain of that.”
I will reiterate my position on Kane. He's a great offensive player that has 35 goals a season in his stick, when healthy. Kane is on an expiring contract ($5.25M AAV). Is Botterill going to re-sign Kane to a long term contract at $6.5M per season?
I don't see it. I really don't.
Botterill seemingly will not trade Kane away for futures. The team that pays a premium price will win the Kane sweepstakes.
With 25 even-strength goals in 70 games this season, Kane finished this season ranked ninth in the NHL with .36 even-strength goals per game. It was the best rate by any Sabre since Jason Pominville scored 30 even-strength goals in 82 games (.37) in the 2006-07 season.
Kane scored each of his 27 goals this season in his last 57 games.
Kane was tied for 15th in the NHL with 25 even-strength goals despite not scoring his first goal until December 3.
From December 1 until the end of the regular season, Kane ranked ninth among all NHL skaters in goals (27) and led the NHL in even-strength goals with 25.
Kane landed 260 shots on goal this season (10.8% shooting percentage), which was 11th in NHL final NHL shot standings.
Kane averaged 3.7 shots per game, which was 5th in the NHL.
Kane is easy to trade because he doesn't have a no move clause in his contract.
Botterill should trade Kane now for a stud top four D. Ducks D Sami Vatanen is close to being traded. Jake Muzzin and Alec Martinez would add huge value and leadership to the Buffalo D corps. Minnesota D Matt Dumba and Jonas Brodin will boost Buffalo's back end as will San Jose's Marc Edouard Vlasic. Vancouver D Chris Tanev would also add puck moving ability to the Aabres blue line.
Thanks, For transcription, Nichols On Hockey
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