Kane trade is officially official, Rangers debut to come at MSG on Thursday (rangers)

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Kane trade is officially official, Rangers debut to come at MSG on Thursday

By Jan Levine

Feb 28, 2023 • 9:43 pm

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The Rangers made official what has been rumored to be a done deal for the past week or so. We know now what New York surrendered in the trade to both Chicago, for Kane and 50% of his cap hit, and Arizona, who facilitated the deal by taking on 50% of the remaining 50% of Kane's $10.5 salary. Kane will make his Rangers debut Thursday at home against Ottawa.

Final deal terms:

Frank Seravalli and Emily Kaplan both provided original details of the deal while Craig Morgan broke the news on the Coyotes portion of the trade. The cost was not prohibitive, as expected, though, similar to the Martin St. Louis deal, one could argue New York surrendered more than expected.  That said, if someone had told you at the beginning of the year this would be the cost for Kane, 90+% of the population base would have signed up immediately.

The second rounder becomes a first in 2024 or 2025 if New York advances to the ECF. This condition is similar to the Andrew Copp deal last season, which is why I hoped that if this was the case, it would trigger if the Rangers advanced or won the SCF. The good news is that after surrendering a first in 2023 in the Vladimir Tarasenko trade, the Rangers at least keep the better of the two picks they have in this year's draft.

As of now, the Rangers have a first, Colorado's third and two sixth-round picks in this year's draft. They will surrender a first rounder next year or in 2025. If they deal the 2024 pick, that will leave them with their second, either their' third or fourth rounder, depending on if trade conditions from the Kane deal are met, as well their fifth through seventh rounders. In 2025, they might have their first rounder, depending on conditions from the Kane deal, Dallas' third or fourth rounder, based on what Nils does, as well two fifths, a sixth and a seventh.

The cost to acquire cap room certainly isn't cheap. Teams with space remaining and not at the contracts assumed limit are adding picks for cap assumed. This will likely be the tip of the iceberg before Friday's deadline. Giving up a third isn't cheap, especially as compared to what Toronto and Boston dealt, but Arizona is assuming slightly more cap room than the other deals.

The below reflects the arms races in the East. What's scary is that this list is already out of date, as Toronto also added Luke Schenn and traded Rasmus Sandin for Erik Gustavfson and a first rounder. Carolina is certainly not done, while Tampa Bay acquired Tanner Jeannot and Pittsburgh is rumored to be working on a deal with Vancouver. The West has started to get into the mix with Mattias Ekhlom going to Edmonton, Joonas Korpisalo held out for trade purposes and could be LA bound with Vladislav Gavrikov. The next two plus days should be crazy if the past week is any indication.

Kane to Broadway

In other news, Braden Schneider, sent down Monday to create sufficient cap room, was recalled Wednesday, as transaction occurred after 5pm on Tuesday. Schneider gives the Rangers at least fifth defensemen for the Flyers game with K'Andre Miller suspended three games for spitting on Drew Doughty and Ryan Lindgren's status unclear due to his shoulder injury.

With no cap room, the Rangers will have to go with 21 skaters the rest of the season. Ben Harpur is the extra d-man/skater for the balance of the season, unless a skater goes on LTIR. When the playoffs starts, there is no cap, which is why Minnesota adding Gustav Nyquist, who may be sidelined to the postseason starts, was a smart move. I would love NY to do similar, but I expect the Black Aces to be depth forwards/defenseman from Hartford.

With Carpenter sent down to Hartford and Kane not in the lineup until Thursday, the Rangers will be one player short even if Lindgren dresses. If not, New York will have five blueliners and 11 forwards, similar to the contest against LA. Not ideal in any way, shape or form and the lack of cap room was one of the concerns I had with this deal.

The Kane acquisition puts individuals in two camps. Those who believe in analytics or those who believe in the player, irrespective of what the analytics show. You can break it down as follows: - Patrick Kane is having a bad season because he's in full-throttled decline. - Patrick Kane is having a bad season because Chicago is awful and he didn't want to push as hard as normal.

The test may well be decided by how Kane plays, but also how far the Rangers go and if he is a key component. If Kane plays well and they lose, then for a short period of time that will supersede the analytics. If he struggles, either due to his hip or general decline in performance, then the analytics will be proven right. GM Chris Drury, Glen Sather and/or James Dolan better be right or this was surrendering assets, even if not a first rounder, that maybe should have been used on supplemental pieces that would have also lengthen the lineup, but added defensive balance and heft needed for a long run. 

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