On Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, Evander Kane potted his 10th goal of the season. Kane's 10 goals in his first 17 games played this season is the fastest start to his nine year NHL career, topping his mark of 10 goals in his first 22 games during the 2011-12 season.
On Tuesday night against the sloppy Penguins, the Sabres held a 3-1 lead in the third period but then collapsed when the going got tough. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champs dropped the hammer on the struggling Sabres and tied the game at 4-4, forcing OT. The Pens won the game in overtime.
Close, but no cigar.
The Pens comeback loss was the microcosm of the 2016-17 season for the Sabres. It's the third straight game that the Sabres have held a third period lead, only to lose it. Two of their past three games have ended in OT losses.
Kane is now on pace to score 46 goals and 32 assists this season.
Is that good? I'm asking for a friend.
Flashes of brilliance continually are undermined by poor team defense. Kane is the exception, not the rule.
For the Sabres, the struggle is real. But don't blame Evander Kane.
Kane has been Buffalo's most consistent, most all around player by a country mile. Kane leads the Sabres in points (18), goals (10), shots on goal (87, shot attempts (a bazillion), and hits (41).
Kane is fully engaged in the process of winning shifts, periods and games. He is leading his teammates. He is dangling defensemen. He is skating around and through opponents. He is sniping goalies with regularity. He is creating turnovers via heavy body checks. He will also punch a fool in the face for taking liberties with his teammates.
Unlike some of his teammates, Kane is playing the game the right way. He's not just using the D-zone and neutral zone as a place to catch his breath between rushes. Not Kane. He continues to hold and dominate the puck at 5v5. He also is thriving on the PK (3 shorthanded goals) and on the power play (1PPG, 4 PPA).
The pending unrestricted free agent has been Buffalo's best all around player this season.
Kane is healthy and is highly motivated to perform on a nightly basis. Everytime he scores a gol or sets up Jack Eichel, Jason Pominville or Samson Reinhart, his value continues to increase.
Kane's 10 goals scored have him ties for 6th place in NHL goal scoring.
Kane now has 18 points in 18 games played.
Since scoring his first goal of the 2016-17 season on December 3, 2016, Kane has scored 38 goals in 76 games played. Kane's 38 goals tied for fifth-most in the league during that time frame and his 31 even-strength goals ranked second only to Toronto sophomore Auston Matthews.
In the past eleven months of playing with one another, Jack Eichel-Evander Kane have become every bit the dynamic hockey duo as Connor McDavid-Leon Draisaitl, Steven Stamkos-Nikita Kucherov are.
In the first 18 games of this season, Eichel has assisted on 5 of Kane's 10 goals.
There's more chemistry and collaboration to come from Eichel-Kane.
All 9 of Eichel's assists on Kane, Pominville, goals are primary apples.
#Sabres AssistMatrix
— Buffalo Sabres Stats (@SabresStats) November 15, 2017
Not surprisingly, the most common connection is Eichel assisting on a Kane goal (5).
All 9 of Eichel's assists on Kane or Pommer goals are Primary Assists. In fact, 10 of Jack's 11 assists this season are Primary Assists. pic.twitter.com/lWPd8gvsgL
Suffice to say, many NHL GMs have been calling Sabres GM Jason Botterill to check in on whether the 26 year old five-tool power forward is available for trade.
We go now live to Jason Botterill "silencing" his cell phone from the calls of dozens of NHL GMs wanting to trade for Evander Kane pic.twitter.com/As20GMC8Kb
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) November 15, 2017
What will it take for Botterill to trade Kane at the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday?
Motivated buyers need to offer a top pair defenseman and a prospect.
Otherwise, don't waste your time.
Right now, the GMs of NHL teams struggling to score at 5v5 and on the PP are craving for a player like Kane to join their clubs. Jason Botterill isn't about to trade Kane for pennies on the dollar.
For instance, it is known that Botterill's former boss Jim Rutherford would like to get himself another top six forward. If he wants to trade for Evander Kane, Rutherford better be prepared to part with Olli Maattaa and Daniel Sprong.
Los Angeles would have to trade either Jake Muzzin or Alec Martinez, plus D prospect Paul LaDue.
Anaheim would have to trade Brandon Montour or Josh Manson, plus D prospect Jacob Larsson in order to acquire Evander Kane.
Edmonton would be forced to have to part with Darnell Nurse and a prospect.
Calgary would have to offer Dougie Hamilton plus D prospect Juuso Và¤limà¤ki.
As we learned with the Matt Duchene soap opera, NHL GMs and their owners are ultra-competitive people. You can't tell a multi-millionaire how to spend his/her money. There will be one or two NHL GMs who take a real aggressive run at Evander Kane in the coming days and weeks.
All due respect to Duchene, he is not equal to or greater than Kane on the ice. Duchene is a scorer and a face off specialist. He isn't able to play the physical-finesse game the likes of which Kane plays. Duchene ultimately was traded for seven assets. Evander Kane may not be a a quantity asset trade target, however, he is no doubt valued at seven asset-quality. In other words, whichever team trades for Evander Kane is going to have to make a massive investment.
Is a Kane trade imminent?
No. It isn't.
Phil Houlsey and Jason Botterill are very pleased with the teammate that Kane has become to Jack Eichel, Samson Reinhart, Ryan O'Reilly, Kyle Okposo and the rest of the Sabres.
I can see why Botterill would want to trade Kane in exchange for some serious currency.
However, I can also see a scenario where Kane re-signs a lucrative long term contract to remain on Eichel's wing in Buffalo.
Kane is playing red hot hockey in the final season of the six-year, $31.5 million contract he signed while with the Winnipeg Jets. The last time Kane was in an expiring contract year, he scored 30 goals. He will exceed that goal total this season. He is a $5.25M AAV and a $6 million salary this season.
Kane is on his way to earning a new $7M AAV over 7-8 seasons. He can achieve 8 years if and only if he re-signs with the Sabres. as an unrestricted free agent.
Should Kane stay or should he go now?
It will come down to this:
How badly do you want Evander Kane on your team, Mr. NHL GM not named Jason Botterill?