With the trade deadline now less than a week away, more teams are starting to sit their players to avoid any risk of injury that could scuttle a pending move or complicate ongoing discussions. With that in mind, here’s a rundown of players in that situation that are out of the lineup today.
- The Blackhawks announced (Twitter link) that winger Patrick Kane and forward Sam Lafferty will sit for trade-related reasons. Kane’s agent Pat Brisson relayed a statement to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic (Twitter link) that it was mutually agreed that Kane would sit during this “period of reflection”. Kane is mulling over whether to leave the only NHL organization he has ever known with the Rangers expected to be the likely destination, provided that they can make the money work as Kane carries a $10.5MM AAV. They’ll need double-retention for a deal to happen.
- As for Lafferty, the 27-year-old is in the midst of a career year with 10 goals and 11 assists in 50 games while winning more than 52% of his faceoffs in a little more than 15 minutes a night of action. Signed for one more season with a manageable cap hit of $1.15MM, he should attract interest from several teams.
- The Sharks will be without winger Timo Meier tonight, reports Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). The 26-year-old is having another strong season, notching 31 goals and 21 assists in 57 games and is four goals shy of his career-high which was set last year. Meier is a pending restricted free agent that’s owed a $10MM qualifying offer this summer but only a $6MM AAV this season. Acquiring teams will likely want to get a long-term deal below that but as of yet, San Jose is not believed to have granted interested squads a chance to negotiate an extension with Meier’s camp. He’s currently nursing an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day so it’s unlikely he’ll suit up before the deadline for precautionary reasons.
Next rangers post will be Kane to the Rangers!! LGR!!
The whole Kane thing sucks for Blackhawk Fans. Hate to see him go but totally understand.
Meier and Lafferty to the Devils
Kane to Wild.
Said it for a while and will say it again…Kane to NYR at the deadline, signs with BUF in the offseason.
Without Kravitsov, I don’t think the Rangers have enough to pull off Kane. Unless it’s someone like Kaako, which I doubt. They have neither the draft capital nor the prospect capital anymore for Kane. This will be interesting.
I disagree. The hawks have absolutely zero leverage here. If Kaner wants to be a ranger and only a ranger, Chicago’s choices are to grant his wishes for whatever return they might be able to squeeze out of NYR or lose him for nothing in the off-season.
The only real hurdle is how to get the necessary retention to make the money work, meaning theyll likely have to take contracts back. The futures value, or lack thereof is of no consequence, unfortunately for Chicago.