One of the most highly anticipated trades of the season may very well be dead in the water.
Just about everyone has been waiting with baited breath this season to learn where Chicago Blackhawks superstar forward Patrick Kane, perhaps the greatest American-born player in the history of the National Hockey League, will end up being traded but thus far no trade has materialized.
To make matters worse, the Blackhawks have been forced to keep Kane out of the lineup as of late due to a nagging injury issue and it now sounds like that may soon turn into an even bigger problem.
On Monday, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed that Kane may need to go under the knife to rectify the problem, something that would obviously throw a major wrench into any potential trade deal.
“There has been a rumor that Pat Kane has been dealing with something,” said Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast. “Some kind of injury, some kind of nagging injury, for some period of time and at some point he’s going to need a clean up.
“I don’t know exactly what the procedure would be so I don’t want to go too much further into this, but the rumor is he would potentially need a clean up.”
Without knowing more about the nature of the procedure that Kane would be undergoing it is impossible to speculate on how long he might be out of the lineup for. That being said, Friedman made it sound like this isn’t some minor thing when he made his next comments about where this might leave Kane and the Blackhawks as far as a potential trade is concerned.
“I’ve been thinking about this and this is my opinion, I’ve been spitballing this,” admitted Friedman. “I wonder if the solution is, Kane and the Blackhawks agree to a 1 year extension, he shuts himself down, he goes and gets whatever procedure he needs, and he comes back next year healthy and refreshed and we go through this again. That’s my opinion.”
Now if I’m being completely honest I don’t see this happening. Kane will have the opportunity at the end of this season to earn what could be the last big contract of his NHL career as an unrestricted free agent. Signing a one-year deal with the Blackhawks, that offers him no long-term security in the event of an injury or something catastrophic, seems like a bit of a stretch in my mind.
That being said, Friedman believes that it could still be better than the alternative for both the player and the organization.
“To be perfectly honest if he noticeably struggles because he’s hurting it’s bad for everyone,” said Friedman. “It’s bad for him, it’s bad for the Blackhawks in trying to move him and it’s bad for another team that might be interested in him.”
This could prove to be a major hurdle to overcome in any potential trade involving Patrick Kane.
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