While the trade bait board released by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli earlier this week contained mostly the usual suspects, a surprise at No. 5 was San Jose Sharks top scorer Evander Kane. While a departure was a possibility this season – the Sharks did tell a U.S. bankruptcy court that Kane’s contract could be terminated – this is the first that trade rumors have popped up. It does not seem as though Kane’s ongoing financial issues and legal proceedings are the root cause either. Instead, Seravalli suggests that a number of Kane’s teammates are unhappy with him in the locker room and have voiced their frustration to San Jose management. This would not be the first time that Kane’s personality has pushed him out of town; he previously had issues in both prior career stops with the Thrashers/Jets and Sabres. Whether the Sharks follow suit and trade Kane is another matter. A top scorer and physical presence, Kane is one of the best players on the team. Even if GM Doug Wilson was inclined to trade Kane, his bankruptcy case and the new leaked details of another upset locker room would make it very difficult for him to get fair value back for what Kane actually contributes on the ice. It’s a difficult situation and one that was not expected to be an issue for the Sharks this summer. It is one thing for Kane’s legal status to force their hand and another to have to instead make the proactive choice to trade an elite player.
- Another player who may unexpectedly be available this summer is young Vegas Golden Knights forward Cody Glass. As relayed by The Athletic’s Jesse Granger, Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer made some comments in his closing media availability on Saturday that were not-so-subtly directed at Glass. A young guy can’t say he never got an opportunity,” DeBoer said. “I think we stuck young guys in all year and tried to put them in situations where they had an opportunity to succeed… Some have seized the moment, some haven’t. Some just aren’t ready yet.” As the Knight’s most high-profile prospect, Glass is certainly one of if not the biggest target of these remarks. Vegas’ first ever draft pick at No. 6 overall back in 2017, Glass has been given ample opportunity so far in his career. He skated in 39 games with the Golden Knights as a first-year pro in 2019-20, recording 12 points, and was expected to take a step forward this year. Instead, he played in only 27 games and recorded 10 points, failing to make an impact at even strength. His lack of reliability kept him out of all but one of Vegas’ playoff games this spring. A prospect with Glass’ draft pedigree is expected to be doing more at this point in his career, especially as the team’s other 2017 first-rounder, Nick Suzuki, is currently first or second in goals, assists, points, and time on ice this postseason among Montreal Canadiens forwards – the team that just knocked out the Knights. With just one year left of waiver exemption, Glass must show this season that he can be an everyday NHL contributor. If DeBoer and the club have doubts, they may decide to trade him now before his stock slips any further.
- Some good news in exit interviews came from the New York Islanders. Captain Anders Lee, whose season was ended by an ACL injury in March, sounded optimistic about his recovery. “I am on track,” Lee stated. “I was able to do a lot of really good things in the past 13-14 weeks since surgery. Looking forward to continuing on that path and getting ready for camp.” ACL injuries can be a difficult and timely recovery, so Lee’s early progress is encouraging. If he is indeed back to full strength in time for training camp, that is an ideal result for the Islanders. Before his injury, Lee was scoring at a pace that closely resembled his career highs in per-game goals and points and was well on his way to a career-best plus/minus, even in the shortened season. New York needs him at that level next year, as their lack of salary cap space will likely prevent them from making any meaningful improvements to the roster this summer.
It’s really too bad a guy like Kane, who has so much talent and plays a physical hard-nosed game, is such negative presence in the locker room to the point the team would rather not have him. Hope he changes his attitude, he’s a type of player teams covet.
Kane, who’d want him? He’s been a cancer in the locker room everywhere he’s played. He’s got significant off-ice issues (and usually has had) that aren’t going away any time soon. In twelve seasons the teams he’s played for have had winning records exactly twice. He’ll turn 30 in August, and he’s precisely the type of player whose skills don’t age well. He carries a NMC and will want consideration to waive it. And joy, he carries a $7 million cap hit for four more years in this flat cap world.
Any thought that this guy is going to change his attitude is wishing on a star: when has he ever? I’m not sure many teams would want to take on his baggage for FREE.
Somebody will take a flier on him. They always do. I also doubt he will change his attitude, but like Dr. Phil would say “how’s that workin’ for ya?”
@backhandinbaptist is right. There is always that *next* team that will be the one reach the problem child player and get him back on track. Their method will work when others have failed before them. The problem with that mentality is there isn’t much of a factual track record of success. When the guy plays, he’s pretty exciting, but when he gets off the rails, he’s worse than Derek Sanderson was back in the day. I was livid at Derek for at least 10 years, after what he did to his own image and that of the league. At least Derek got his act together, eventually, but his life choices damn near killed him. Kane doesn’t seem to get it, or he just doesn’t care.
Gah, you would have to draw that parallel, Sanderson not only being one of my favorite players back in the day, but someone who might have been a Hall of Famer if he didn’t blow himself up. Very apt, because he still put points on the board even at the end of his career, as an out of shape druggie.
But I’m not so sure as you guys a team will take a flier on him. That is a large, indigestible cap hit for a wing and a prayer.
@Nha Trang – Remember, we’re not rooting for another team to take him on to rehabilitate him, but rather fear that there will be one idiot that will show the rest of the league how it’s done. Just like there will be several GMs on Free Agent Frenzy Day that will, invariably, overpay one or more UFAs, as though they are bidding against themselves. It’ll be like watching a train leaving the tracks and going down a mountainside in slow motion. Everybody gave up on Robin Lehner due to his off-ice issues. What did he do? Got himself right and showed everybody that it can be done. Why somebody like Evander Kane can’t see that as a positive motivator for himself is a mystery. And, if Doug W. gets an offer where he has to throw in a sweetener and 50% retention, Kane could end up adding another travel sticker to the old suitcase.
Yeah, good point. It’s the same way that idiot GMs keep throwing giant max-term salaries at players. I might spend an evening taking a look at the history of such things, but I’m willing to bet that two-thirds of them are ones the teams live to regret. Seriously, how many stars STAY that way for eight years, every year?
Unless they get a high draft pick, I think they’ll release him. The cap space opening is too valuable right now with everyone in a crunch.
@Adios pelota! – Which “release him” method are you referring to? A buyout isn’t insignificant to SJS ownership, and the contract termination Zach writes about here isn’t the easiest to accomplish, due to a possibility of Kane filing a grievance with NHLPA for wrongful termination (or words to that effect). At least the buyout would give finality, but eight years of paying him not to play there might not fit the owners’ desires. I could even see him making a stink if he was given the Loui Eriksson treatment of 40+ games as a healthy scratch. He’d have to get himself charged with a big-time felony to make it easier on the team to get rid of him.
I don’t think he can file a grievance if he doesn’t want to be paid the contract. At least that’s how I understood the Kane court sessions. He doesn’t want to pay his debt and if his contract exists they’ll make him.
I may be confused here but, I got a small explanation in the comments of the written back in January below
link to prohockeyrumors.com
@Adios pelota! – Excellent point there, but, as you stated, that was “way back” in January. If he still feels the same five months later, it would probably rule out the grievance argument. Either way, it seems like he’s hell-bent on trying to wiggle out of the debt, by any means necessary, including possibly blowing up his NHL life.
Court systems are confusing haha. I admit I am still not very clear on the whole thing.
As a sharks fan, either way even though he was the sharks top player last year id get rid of him if possible. He just has to much baggage and if you can free space they become valuable to a team trying to free up space to keep people. Bad example T. Johnson for Tampa for draft picks
E. Kane might be best off heading to the KHL where he can keep his rubles away from the bankruptcy court, lol! ;)
I would not consider Kane elite…. Unless burning bridges and building debt is a hockey skill.
I’m pretty happy watching the work Doug Dubya’s done over the past few years with the Sharks. He’s done some great work in the past but if ever a team were dying for a reset in the FO, that team is it…. They’ve got about 5 of the league’s worst contracts all in one place!
And in each case, Wilson either handed those contracts out or traded for them. Seriously, Burns and Vlasic? How many defensemen in the entire post-expansion era were elite stars all the way to age 38+, maintaining top performance all that while? It comes down to Bourque, Lidstrom, MacInnis and Chara. So why, in heaven’s name, give a Norris-candidate size eight year contract to Vlasic, of all people?
If I’m Sharks’ ownership, at this point I hire an assassin to stand behind Wilson so as to wax him if he offers more than a four year deal to anyone. That or I just fire him.
@Nha Trang – But, before Lee Harvey makes his guest appearance, somebody needs to find those Polaroids! :)
Vlasic was coming off one his best years just after the cup final hindsight is 20/20, I probably would’ve done a similar deal.
Now Karlsson is where he went waaay wrong! He gave too much up and then doubled down! He’s done good in the past but, I believe a new voice is needed.
Vlasic was indeed coming off of one of his best years. So what? They gave him EIGHT years at a SEVEN MILLION cap hit with a NMC. That’s All-Star money and term. There are Norris Trophy winners that don’t have contracts like that. And at best, Vlasic was a second-pairing defenseman. A guy you might give four years to at $4-5 million, but no more.
The year he signed that deal though he was 11th in the norris trophy race, and he was top 10 in defensive points shared (DPS). That’s all star level.
Term fair enough little long even for me but you never know what contracts were out there he didn’t sign. Wilson may have matched another teams contract length.
link to hockey-reference.com
Erm … the league only picks four defensemen for All-Stars every year. 11th place isn’t close.
This year they picked 3 per division for each team (north, south, east, west). Thatd be 12 by my counts. If the west wasn’t stacked with better defenseman (Burns, Doughty) at the time he definitely would’ve been in the conversation.