There has been an incredible amount of talk and speculation around the future of Chicago Blackhawks superstar Patrick Kane leading up to the National Hockey League's March 3rd trade deadline, but in spite of all that Kane still remains a Blackhawk at the time of this writing.
Last week rumors began to circulate that suggested that one of the main reasons for this could be due to the fact that the Blackhawks weren't able to work out a trade to a destination that Kane was interested in. The first of these teams was of course the New York Rangers, who acquired Blues star winger Vladimir Tarasenko earlier this month, and the other was the Toronto Maple Leafs and that rumor stemmed from these comments from former NHLer Carlo Colaiacovo:
"Based on people I've talked to, if Patrick Kane were to accept a trade somewhere, the two teams on his list are the Rangers and the Leafs..." said Colaiacovo last week.
On Sunday night, fresh after willing his team to victory over the aforementioned Toronto Maple Leafs, Kane largely shot down those rumors and any other rumors of a potential trade to Toronto.
"I don't think there was – at least that I know of - much discussion of that being an option," admitted Kane on Sunday night. "I think there's a lot of different reports out there and not all of them are true. Gotta be careful what you listen to."
Kane did however admit that the absence of a decision up until this point was largely on him. When asked about comments made by Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson, Kane all but confirmed that he still has not made up his mind yet.
"I don’t think he’s lying when he says that," said Kane of Davidson's comments. "I’m the one with the no-movement clause, but we’ve been having discussions with my agent pretty much every day."
Kane was asked what he felt in his gut would eventually happen and he didn't have an answer for that either, but it sounds like the option of going to Toronto may have never been a realistic one.