On Monday morning, Elliot Friedman of SportsNet reported that Patrick Kane, the longtime Chicago Blackhawk, was signing with the Detroit Red Wings after remaining a free agent since the summer. Kane was being pursued by many teams like the Florida Panthers, Dallas Stars, Buffalo Sabres, and more.
Kane was traded to the New York Rangers from the Chicago Blackhawks at the trade deadline in March of this year and was not signed by the Rangers after they lost in the first round of the playoffs. After the first round loss with the Rangers, Kane had hip surgery in June, and that along with his older age was enough for the Rangers to realize he wasn’t a match for them. Once the Rangers made it clear that they would not re-sign Kane, many reports came out that Kane was meeting with various different teams.
General manager Bill Zito of the Florida Panthers was very persistent and wanted to sign Kane to try and make another deep Stanley Cup run with an experienced Stanley Cup winner on their team.
Reports also stated that Kane was in deep talks with the Buffalo Sabres, which became a very likely landing point for Kane as Buffalo is his hometown. Chris Johnston of The Athletic reported the many landing spots for Kane and mentioned how the cap space would work for the Sabres if they were to sign Kane.
However the 35 year old forward decided to sign with the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit was also a very likely option for Kane since the Red Wings have been looking like a team that will be able to make a deep playoff run this year. Additionally, Kane has reunited with his teammate from when he was on the Blackhawks, Alex Debrincat. Detroit Red Wings fans hope to see Patrick Kane push this team into the playoffs and help them eventually win the Stanley Cup.
