I was speaking with some hockey folks on Friday night before the Erie Otters vs. Soo Greyhounds game. There were a lot of notable people in the building to watch Connor McDavid and Ryan Strome play against the big, bad, fast Greyhounds. We talked about the recent Evander Kane controversy. I suggested that the 23 year old power forward’s days are done in Winnipeg while the other gentleman argued that Kane would reconcile and make nice with the management team of the Jets.
I said it then and I’ll say it again: Evander Kane will never wear a Winnipeg Jets sweater ever again. He will be traded to an Eastern team. One of my friends suggested that the Jets would hold onto Kane until after his surgically repaired shoulder has healed, then trade him away for the highest asset package available. I don’t buy that assertion. I think that Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff would trade away Kane today if the price was right. The Jets and Kane are getting divorced. Why would they prolong the agony by waiting to sever ties? They will cut the cord and they will move on from one another to pursue their respective future interests. I think I’m right. Others argue that Chevy can maximize his trade value for Kane if he patiently waits 4-6 months. I don’t agree at all.
Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman and I see things similarly.
"I don't think it's guaranteed to be that. I don't think so at all"
“Friedge… was a guest on Calgary’s Sportsnet 960 this morning. He thinks that a trade of Kane can happen sooner than later. Friedman also accentuated my belief that Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray is at the front of the line of aggressive GMs who want to get their hands on Kane.
"One guy I've really heard who likes Kane is Tim Murray in Buffalo. Tim Murray has a long amateur scouting background. He scouted players for a long time, and he's pretty good at it. From what I understand - he won't talk because it's tampering, which I understand - but from what I understand, he has interest and would make a deal".
I told you last Thursday that the Jets sent their Assistant GM and their eastern NHL scout to Buffalo to watch the Sabres-Blues game in person. AGM’s don’t travel through snowy, icy storms in Buffalo in February unless their bosses mandate that they make the in-person player evaluation.
Friedman isn’t sure which Buffalo players(s) can help the Jets and their 2015 playoff chances right now.
"The tough thing for me is I look at that Buffalo roster. If you're Winnipeg and you're going to trade Evander Kane, you've got to do it in a way that helps your team now. I don't know what Buffalo has that helps the Jets now. So I think it comes down to two things: Does the team want him? And does the team have what Winnipeg is going to asks for because they're going to ask for a lot to make it work". My answer to that query is Tyler Myers and Chris Stewart.
Myers and Stewart are plug-n-play veterans who would immediately upgrade the Jets speed and playmaking ability. In the case of Stewart, he would add a heavy dosage of strength, physicality, fearlessness and all-out courage. He would create bigger chunks of ice for Jets playmakers Scheifele, Wheeler, Little, Perreault, Frolik and Ladd to make plays with. Myers has three more years left on his current deal at an AAV of $5.5 million. Stewart is a pending UFA.
Tim Murray could also sweeten the deal by including either his STL or NYI 2015 first round draft choices.
The Peg have not qualified for the playoffs since the team moved north from Atlanta. They understand that the best of the West play a heavy, angry, all-out-blitz forecheck in April, May and June. Kevin Cheveldayoff knows all too well that his nicked-up, vulnerable D corps has to be fortified and reinforced between now and the start of the playoffs with a veteran D-man. Chevy and Paul Maurice need another fast, skilled, experienced rear guard who can to turn his face to the glass while under duress in his Myers is that man. Some will argue that the Jets have a solid enough, playoff-ready D corps that can withstand the abuse and physicality-in-waves that the Hawks, Ducks, Blues, and Kings will be dishing out dish out. I don’t agree. The Jets have a blue line that has been decimated by injuries to key players this season and I don’t think that they have enough skill and depth to survive a first round war with a team that has been battling in the playoffs for the better part of the past decade. Dustin Byfuglien, Zach Bogosian, Jacob Trouba, Toby Enstrom, Mark Stuart, Paul Postma, Adam Pardy, are a solid D corps. However, many of the players in this group have been hobbled by serious injuries so far this season. Old injuries don’t heal easily and quickly when the player is getting tattooed for 60 minutes a night, every other night for three straight months. The NHL playoffs are a war of attrition and the Jets are the new kids on the block in terms of playoff performances. Sure, they have players that have “been there before…, however, the NHL playoffs are a “what have you done for me lately… proposition. Players break down from the excessive hitting and checking. Old injuries and bruises become chronic issues. New injuries happen all the time.
Friedman thinks that the Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers interested in Kane. At what price though?
"But I do think that there is reason for a team like Calgary that would be interested, or a team like Buffalo that would be interested, or a team like Philly that would be interested… in Kane.
The though being: strike now since Boston and Pittsburgh cannot and won’t dismantle their current lineups to send their difference makers to Winnipeg in a trade for Kane before the playoffs begin. The contending teams would want to trade for a healthy Kane so that he can help them to win playoff series en rout to the Cup Finals. However, Kane is recovering from surgery today and cannot help any team this season. If Murray were to trade for Kane this week, it would eliminated the Bostons, Pittsburghs and Calgarys. Take the kid off the market once and for all.
Friedman says that there is a secondary market for Kane in the form of the eight teams that will make the playoffs but will lose out in the first round.
"Because one GM had a great line to me yesterday. He said, 'The teams that you have to worry about are the teams that lose in the first round.'
"Eight teams lose in the first round and most of them are pissed off because they lost in the first round. And that's when the heat really falls on you. And if Evander Kane is still available, all of the sudden you're going to be looking at it and saying, 'Alright, is this a guy we have to go get? Now we're in the race.'
"So if you really want him, and you're a team that isn't in it this year, you would look at it right now."
If Tim Murray wants Evander Kane, he should make a deal sooner than later or risk losing him to another team down the road.
Murray has said repeatedly that he is not "trying" to trade Tyler Myers. However, he won't close his ears and eyes if he is offered an enticing trade proposal for his 6'8" do-it-all-defenseman.
Myers is also being linked via trade chatter to the Anaheim Ducks, Colorado Avalanche, LA Kings and Detroit Red Wings.
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Friedman on Kane’s value to his next team and his impressive work ethic:
“…Nobody who tells you this guy is a bad player. Nobody. He's a good player. Some people in Winnipeg are talking like he's no more than a third-liner. That is craziness. He's much more than that. He's playing hurt this year, and when you have a guy who forechecks like that who can hurt people without doing it illegally because he just hits so hard