Interested teams working on third-party trade for Evander Kane

Evander Kane is eligible to return to action for the San Jose Sharks face however, his team placed him on waivers last month, paving the way for his assignment to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda. Word is that his agent is working hard at finding a trade that could send him elsewhere in the NHL.

As you know, Kane was suspended for 21 games over a violation of the NHL’s COVID-19 health and safety protocol, reportedly due to his use of a fake vaccine card. Sharks teammates had made it clear they are not interested in Kane rejoining the team, and it is believed GM Doug Wilson is looking at options to move his controversial player.

The latest development on the trade comes from Emily Kaplan of ESPN, who reports on Wednesday that there is a decent amount of interest in Kane. However, it sounds like this will have to become a three-team trade to make a transaction work.

“[T]he interested teams are looking for a third-party team to act as “broker” to help retain some of his salary ($7 million). San Jose is willing to retain some salary, but if it gets even lower — imagine Kane, who has averaged 28 goals per season over his 12-year career, at a $1.75 million cap hit — the list of interested teams grows even longer. However, it’s going to take a team that believes it has a strong locker room culture to bring Kane in.”

Kaplan adds that Kane, who was a three-team trade list, would prefer to to play for a contender, though the insider does not believe a trade will happen soon.

“The best-case scenario for Kane is getting bought out by the Sharks and being able to choose his next destination, but I don’t think the Sharks have broached buyout talks with him yet. Those discussions would likely happen this summer.”

While Kane is a very controversial player, he did lead the Sharks with 49 points during the pandemic-shortened 2021 season.

He could find a rival club interested in acquiring him, despite his behaviour. Kane has three seasons left on his contract after this one at a $7 million average annual salary.