West Notes: Kane, Zatkoff, Las Vegas

While it doesn’t appear that talks are currently ongoing, the Minnesota Wild and Buffalo Sabres have held trade discussions regarding left winger Evander Kane, Michael Russo of the Star-Tribune notes in a reader mailbag.

Kane has had an adventurous last few seasons both on and off the ice.  When it comes to his on ice performance, he has shown signs of stardom but hasn’t been able to deliver that with any sort of consistency since before the last lockout.  He’s in his second year in a Buffalo uniform but has only played once after being injured in the season opener.

Off the ice, he was charged with four counts of non-criminal harassment, one count of disorderly conduct, and one count of misdemeanor trespass after an incident back in June but it was announced last week that those charges will be dropped as long as he stays out of any legal trouble between now and March 30th.

Kane has two years remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $5.25MM and a salary of $6MM in each season.  For any deal to work the Wild, who will be back into LTIR this week after they make a pair of recalls before their next game, would have to send matching salary Buffalo’s way.

More news from the West:

• The Los Angeles Kings have activated goaltender Jeff Zatkoff off of injured reserve and assigned goalie Jack Campbell to Ontario of the AHL as first reported by Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider. Zatkoff started the season as the backup to Jonathan Quick but was thrust into the starting job after Jonathan Quick suffered a long-term groin injury that will still have him out for another 2-3 months.  However, Zatkoff had a groin issue of his own come up in practice, forcing veteran Peter Budaj into the starting job.  There’s no word on when Zatkoff will make his next start but with the Kings on a lengthy Eastern road trip, he should see some game action soon.  He has an 0-3 record so far this year with a 4.38 GAA and a .839 save percentage.
• The expansion Las Vegas franchise will officially unveil their team name and logo at a press conference on November 22nd, the team announced in a press release. It’s believed that the team colors will be available at that time as well although the actual look of the uniforms are expected to be revealed at a later date.