We've already seen two major trades this week ahead of the National Hockey League Trade Deadline, with former Vancouver Canucks captain Bo Horvat getting dealt to the New York Islanders in a blockbuster trade that sent Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty and a conditional first-round pick in 2023 back to Vancouver.
Additionally, the St. Louis Blues sent forward Vladimir Tarasenko to Manhattan, trading him to the New York Rangers as they gear up for another deep postseason run. And as you may remember, the Rangers had previously been linked to Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane, who has been the subject of trade rumors all year given the fact that he's in the final year of his contract. Instead, the Rangers went with Tarasenko, which Kane admitted that he wasn't exactly pleased about.
However, there remain multiple teams that are interested in acquiring Kane's services. According to Mark Lazerus and Scott Powers of The Athletic, the Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights have “confirmed interest” in trading for Kane:
"There are several teams for which Kane could make sense, but that doesn’t always mean there’s real interest there. Four teams with confirmed interest are Carolina, Dallas, Minnesota and Vegas. The question is, of course, is Kane willing to go to any of those teams?"
Of course, that would require Kane ultimately making the call to waive his no-trade clause in his contract. Do Lazerus and Powers believe that will happen?
"The Blackhawks aren’t fully convinced Kane or Toews are going to ask to be traded. They feel like Kane is about 50/50 to ask out. Toews has lower odds than that."
Kane said the following last Friday morning about his no-trade clause:
“I mean, you sign a contract with a no-movement clause, no-trade clause for a reason, right?" he said. "(Otherwise) I would have done a 16-team no-trade clause.”
The NHL Trade Deadline is March 3.
