Disclaimer: This post was written before news broke that Kane is out for 4-6 months after shoulder surgery.

In case you missed it over the past few years, Evander Kane has been on the path towards total ostracization by the Winnipeg Jets and the media. It started with the money phone (pictured above). It continued with a series of articles by Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press, all of which blamed Kane for everything wrong with Winnipeg, falling short of blaming him for the cold winters.

It all came to a head in the last week, where Kane was a healthy scratch for “team reasons.” The reason was later found to be that he wore a track suit to the rink, a violation of team rules that require an actual suit. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet later revealed that Kane skipped the game, following an altercation with Dustin Byfuglien, who threw his track suit in the shower as a message to the 23-year-old kid.

What we have now is a kid that has been labeled as an outcast, and to make matters worse is dealing with a shoulder injury that was another by-product of the altercation. He has been placed on injured reserve (not long-term).

Kane’s Background

Kane is one of just 19 players to score 30 goals as a 20-year-old. The players on that list provide some impressive company. It was then that Kane inked his six-year deal that puts him at a cap hit of $5.25 million, and when the money phone picture went viral. I honestly had no problem with it, he was a 21-year-old in Vegas. I remember (sort of) what I did in Vegas as a 21-year-old. Money phone would have been tame. Following the big contract, Kane was also on pace for 30 goals in the lockout shortened 2013 season.

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Kane’s performance started slipping thereafter though, as we can see above.. His ES P/60 dropped from 2.4 in ’11-’12 to 1.8 for the next two seasons. It’s at 1.1 now, and isn’t necessarily an indicator of his true skill level.

In defense of Kane, the guys around him for those two seasons mostly stunk. There were good foundations in place, but the team as a whole wasn’t very good. They missed the playoffs both years, and Kane was still one of the team’s top offensive performers and a solid driver of puck possession. However the team stunk, and as the star player, he was slammed by the media for “not performing.”

This year, the Jets are good, and Kane was expected to be a part of that push for the playoffs. Now it appears Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has no choice but to trade him. With almost zero leverage, Chevy has to trade his franchise player, who has three years left on his deal at $5.25 million.

What would it take to land him?

In short, it would take a lot for the Rangers to land Kane. The Jets need young talent, specifically NHL talent, as the Jets are in the playoffs and don’t want to jeopardize that. The Rangers need to send money the other way for this to work. Any deal landing Kane would mean Carl Hagelin and his $2.25 million (due a raise as well) has to go the other way. I’d assume Chris Kreider is a non-starter here, thus Hagelin is the guy to be moved. That’s just business.

Sticking with the young talent aspect, I’d venture a guess that the Jets would want John Moore as well. They are ravaged by injuries on the blue line, and Moore is young, cheap, and a puck mover.

Of course, Hagelin and Moore aren’t enough. They are nice players, but they aren’t enough to land Kane. And they certainly aren’t enough to go up against what other teams have to offer (Isles, for example). They’d need to add a sweetener, and this is where people are going to be upset. I’d venture a guess that one of Anthony Duclair or Pavel Buchnevich would have to be involved in the trade.

Is this even feasible?

In short: No. Acquiring Kane would involve the Rangers sending two roster players and a top prospect expected to compete for a spot next year. This doesn’t even factor in the salary cap, which is an unknown at this point due to the tanking Canadian Dollar.

No matter which way you slice it, acquiring Kane means one of Martin St. Louis or Mats Zuccarello would need to go. Considering Zucc’s potential price tag, that’s another discussion folks may not want to have.

In the end, we are looking at Hagelin, Moore, Duclair/Buch for Kane (probably need a ‘+’ here on Winnipeg’s end, but nothing crazy). Then it would mean potentially letting Zucc go as well. That’s a lot of roster turnover for one guy.

In the end, I think Kane comes to the Eastern Conference, but not to the Rangers. Kane is simply too expensive, both in players and in cap space.

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