The Patrick Kane trade to the Rangers: Sequence of events that needs to happen

It seems to be a foregone conclusion that Patrick Kane will be traded to the NY Rangers next week. The Rangers need to bank cap space to make it work, and they also need a third party to absorb 25% of Kane’s salary and cap hit. Any Patrick Kane trade to the Rangers is going to take time, not to work out details, but for the cap space to work. And this sequence of events needed starts today.

For the sake of this post, we are assuming Vitali Kravtsov is included in the Patrick Kane deal, and will not be moved prior. Naturally, if the NY Rangers trade Kravtsov beforehand, it will accelerate the Kane trade timing.

Step 1: Place Jake Leschyshyn on waivers

Placing Jake Leschyshyn on waivers is the obvious first step for a Kane trade to the Rangers. It’s why the Rangers scratched him last night. You can’t waive an injured player, so they didn’t take the risk. Leschyshyn will clear by Saturday, and the Rangers will be free of that cap hit.

The risk this runs, and assuming Vitali Kravtsov is in the Kane trade to the Rangers and will continue to be scratched, is that if there is an injury up front, the Rangers won’t have the bodies to fill the roster.

The Blueshirts will also be forced to run 11 forwards and 7 defensemen for the next four games until the trade deadline to make this work. Given they are locked into a first round series with the Devils and are mostly jockeying for home ice, it’s a price they are more than willing to pay to land Kane.

Step 2a: Bank cap space / Step 2b: Play cap shenanigans with Braden Schneider

Step 2 is the hardest step, since the Rangers need to bank the necessary cap space to make this work. Leschyshyn will clear by Saturday, so the Rangers will bank more cap space starting then. In conversations with PuckPedia, the Rangers will not have enough space to land Kane until the March 3 deadline if this is the only move made in advance.

Braden Schneider is the only Ranger that doesn’t need waivers. They may be able to speed things up –and I am not going to even attempt to figure out the cap math here– if they play cap games with Schneider. As of the writing of this post, he has not been sent to the AHL on a paper transaction to bank space today. With back to backs over the weekend, today is the only day they’d be able to do so until Monday.

Assuming the Rangers do not play cap games with Schneider and Kravtsov is in the Kane deal, then we need to wait until March 3 for the trade to go through.

Step 3: Pull the trigger on the Kane trade to the Rangers

The Rangers will pull the trigger on the Kane trade next Friday at the trade deadline. I’m sure they’d prefer to do it beforehand, but all signs are pointing to this falling into their laps when they were previously out on Kane.

Again we are assuming Kravtsov is in the deal. If the cost really came down enough that Drury wasn’t going to kick a gift horse in the mouth, then it’s safe to assume a 1st round pick is not part of the deal.

The market for retaining salary has also been set, so let’s factor in a 5th round pick for money laundering. The Rangers have one in 2024. It’s possible it’s a 4th rounder, again in 2024.

So we have Kravtsov going to Chicago and a 5th rounder (or 4th) going to a money laundering team. We can make our guesses after that. I have my guess, but I’m not sharing that yet (ominous foreshadowing).