There was a time not too long ago when the Vancouver Canucks were the only team consistently scouting Buffalo Sabres forward Evander Kane hot and heavy.
Lately, the LA Kings, Anaheim Ducks, Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks have been running scouting sorties into Buffalo to keep tabs on Kane.
Kane is healthy and has been producing at a steady clip.
In his past 21 games, Kane has scored 12 goals and assisted on 5 others.
So, why would Tim Murray trade Kane now while the Sabres are scratching and clawing to earn a wild card berth? Because the Sabres badly, and I mean, badly need to upgrade their speed, skill and smarts on their second and their D pairs. The Sabres have scored first then collapsed to lose their last three road games in Tampa, Raleigh and Toronto. Buffalo's blue line has been a source of pain all season long. If Murray has to trade Evander Kane to get his hands on a difference making top four D-man now, then so be it.
Buffalo has young scoring winger prospects in already Justin Bailey, Nick Baptiste and Alex Nylander who champing at the bit to move up from AHL Rochester and take the place of Kane in Buffalo.
Brendan Guhle will be a full time Sabres defender in Buffalo next season. For the time being, Sabres fans continue to hold their collective breath when Cody Franson, Justin Falk and Taylor Fedun are on the ice.
What makes Kane more attractive to teams right now is that 11 of his 12 goals scored have come at even strength. I dare say that were he on Buffalo's top power play unit this season, Kane would easily have between 3-5 power play goals. Kane has been relegated to the second PP unit which only gets 30-40 seconds of ice time during a minor penalty.
Kane's recent power surge has brought several other teams to the fore. The Kings, Flyers, Ducks and Blackhawks all are looking to add a scoring winger to their respective top six groups.
The Canucks continue to scout Kane today. Vancouver sent a scout to Toronto on Tuesday night to watch the Sabres-Leafs tilt. Kane scored a goal in the 4-3 Sabres loss.
The Canucks are now tied with Los Angeles for eighth place in the Western standings. The Kings are 5-5 in their last ten and are falling fast. The Anze Kopitar saga continues to swirl while Tyler Toffoli continues to rehab his lower body injury. The Kings are trending downward while the Canucks, are trending upwards. Vancouver is 6-1-3 in their last ten games and are feeling better about themselves. The Canucks have a -18 goal differential and want to get better now.
The Canucks rank 25th overall in the NHL in goals scored with 108 (2.35 GPG). However, of their 108 goals for, only 75 of them have come at even strength. Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi lead the Canucks with 10 goals at even strength. Henrik Sedin, Brandon Sutter and Marcus Granlund have nine goals at even strength. The Canucks could use another scorer who can infuse goals and assists at even strength and on the power play.
For quite some time, Canucks GM Jim Benning has been looking for a power forward who can score and win wall battles.
Evander Kane fits Vancouver's bill.
Say what you want about the Vancouver, B.C. native. Kane has scored 32 goals and 20 assists in his last 98 games as a Buffalo Sabres. At his current pace, Kane will easilyscore 20 goals again this season.
The unique selling proposition on Kane is that 50% of his $5.25 million contract has already been paid out by the Sabres. Kane's tab for the rest of this season will be $2.625 million. Not a bad investment for a contending team to make to acquire a proven 20+ goal scoring power winger who is also a 47% face off man. Kane has one year remaining on his contract at $5.25M AAV.
Vancouver is one of a few teams who are presently interested in Kane. The question for Jim Benning to answer is whether or not he is will to trade left shot D-man Ben Hutton for Kane. It was announced Tuesday that Hutton will be out of the lineup for the next 3-6 weeks with an injury. Is Benning willing to trade a young puck mover like Hutton or Troy Stecher for Kane?
If the answer in no, then the Kane to Couver conversation ends abruptly.
Tim Murray wants a puck moving D who plays well in all three zones. If he has to trade Kane to acquire that piece then so be it.
Dean Lombardi has Jake Muzzin or Brayden McNabb to use as trade pieces to land Kane. The Kings have been sinking like a SoCal sunset for the past month. The playoffs are looking like a pipe dream right now. Lombardi needs to trade an valuable asset or two to get the 20 goal scoring power forward who can immediately impact his 5v5 and PP scoring.
Ducks GM Bob Murray has young stud D-men Shea Theodore and Brandon Montour to invest in a Kane trade. The Ducks blue line is fully loaded top to bottom and it will take an injury to a starter to get Theodore back into the Anaheim lineup. Theodore has been a yo-yo this season, drive back and forth between AHL San Diego and Anaheim. It may be time to trade Theodore, who is too valuable a player to be stuck in the AHL.
The Philadelphia assessing their roster right now during their hiatus period. Ron Hextall has young stud D prospects Travis Sanheim and Sam Morin to use as trade currency to fund an Evander Kane to Philly trade. The Flyers will resume play this Saturday. They are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games and have 50 points. Today, they are tied for eighth place in the East with Carolina, Florida, Tampa, New Jersey, Detroit and Buffalo on their back bumper in in their rear view mirror.
The Blackhawks very well could trade Nik Hjalmarsson's $4.1M AAV (x3) in exchange for Kane, who would play alongside Jonathon Toews.
The NHL trade deadline is March 1 at 3pm EDT.
Let the games begin.
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I tip my bucket and tap my stick to promotional department of the San Jose Sharks.
They are inventing new ways to entertain their fans by creating next level box office promotions.
To hell with refrigerator magnets and season schedules. The Sharks are pushing the limits with their promotional activities.
The Sharks are giving away Joe Thornton Chia Pets on Saturday night when Colorado crawls into the Shark Tank.
Last season, the San Jose Sharks gave away quite possibly the greatest promotional item of the year: a Brent Burns Chia Pet.
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