Patrick Kane hasn’t officially requested a trade away from the Blackhawks yet, but his mind seems to be almost certainly leaning in that direction.
At least it was when the Rangers were a possibility — something that ceased to be the case Thursday, when the Rangers instead acquired Vladimir Tarasenko from the Blues. Kane was honest Friday about his reaction to that move, which cost him an opportunity to be reunited with longtime friend and former Hawks teammate Artemi Panarin.
“It’s not like the happiest I’ve been to hear about a trade,” Kane said. “The Rangers I definitely pay attention to [and am] intrigued by, for obvious reasons.”
“If things were going to happen, that was a team I was definitely looking at. It seems like they kind of filled their void and went ahead and made a deal. So it is what it is.”
Kane has been hearing about interested teams through his agent, Pat Brisson, but still hasn’t given Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson a green light to explore and negotiate trade options. So there was nothing Davidson could have done about the Rangers’ pivot.
“In fairness to Kyle, I haven’t went to Kyle and said, ‘I wanted to go here [or] I want to [stay],” Kane said. “I haven’t gotten to any of that yet. ... I think within the next 10 days or so, we’ll probably get a clearer picture of what’s going to happen.”
The Rangers were reportedly wary of Kane’s nagging lower-body injury. But Kane has repeatedly downplayed its severity and did so again Friday, claiming he actually feels better than he did last season.
With the Rangers off the table, Western contenders like the Stars, Kings and Golden Knights are now probably the most logical fits for Kane. He implied the list of teams that he’ll eventually inform Davidson are acceptable trade destinations will be very short, though.
“You sign a contract with a no-trade clause for a reason, right?” He said. “Else I would’ve done a 16-team no trade clause.”
