Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane was ‘definitely’ intrigued by Rangers before Tarasenko trade

Kane was ‘definitely’ intrigued by Rangers before Tarasenko trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

The March 3 trade deadline is exactly three weeks away, and Patrick Kane said he expects to make a decision on his future within the next 10 days or so. But one team on his potential list doesn’t appear to be an option anymore after the New York Rangers acquired six-time 30-goal scorer Vladimir Tarasenko.

Kane certainly took note of it, and shared his honest thoughts about the move after Friday’s morning skate.

“It’s not like the happiest I’ve been to hear about a trade,” Kane said. “I think the Rangers are a team that you definitely pay attention to and definitely are intrigued by, for obvious reasons. Obviously they made a move to get him and another big defenseman, so you’ve got to respect them going out and trying to make their team better.”

To be clear: Kane confirmed on Friday that he hasn’t gone to GM Kyle Davidson to inform him what he’d like to do or given him a list of teams, even though he is having conversations with his agent Pat Brisson almost every day. No official decision has been made yet.

But the Rangers trade probably changes things a bit in his mind.

“If things were going to happen, that was a team I was definitely looking at,” Kane said. “It seems like they kind of filled their void and went ahead and made a deal. So it is what it is.”

According to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, part of the reason the Rangers jumped at the Tarasenko opportunity was that they had some concerns about Kane’s nagging hip injury. Kane feels that narrative has been overblown.

“Yeah, I think so,” Kane said. “I’m not really sure what the story is out there, to be honest with you. I think I feel better than I did last year, and I had a pretty good season last year. So it’s just one of those things, I think maybe the story leaks out and it piles up a little bit.”

If Kane decides he wants to be traded, the number of teams he’d be willing to waive his no-movement clause for will likely be pretty small.

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“There’s a lot of good teams out there,” Kane said. “That’s where you sit down and have those discussions. I’m not going to think about it with you here right now. It’s something that’s going to happen behind closed doors and we’ll figure it out.

“Obviously you want to do right by the franchise, and the organization here has been amazing to me and given me so much. So you definitely want what’s best for both sides.”

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