Reasons for and Against Toronto Maple Leafs Trading for Patrick Kane

Patrick Kane’s “Chelsea Dagger” days might soon be behind him. The Chicago Blackhawks are finally embracing their long overdue rebuild and might be sending the future Hall of Famer off in a trade.

It would truly be the end of an era for the Blackhawks and their mini three Stanley Cup-winning dynasty.

Kane is in the final year of the eight-year contract he signed back in 2015 and is a pending unrestricted free agent.

Not only that, but Kane’s contract also includes a full no-trade clause. Kane controls where he might be sent, and it’s being reported the two places he’d consider are the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers.

I can make a compelling case both for and against the Toronto Maple Leafs trading for the future Hall of Famer.

Could acquiring Kane help the Maple Leafs advance out of the first round?

Like the Rangers, the Maples Leafs also have two spots up for grabs in their top six. Four of those sports are taken by the duos of Auston Matthews with William Nylander and John Tavares with Mitchell Marner, as mentioned by Sean Allen in his totally fantasy hockey-based trade deadline prediction article for ESPN.

He also mentioned how Kane would be an instant upgrade over Michael Bunting and Calle Jarnkrok.

Problem is, even if there are spots open, it’s not in Kane’s natural right wing position. Both open spots would be on the left side. If they can acquire a generational talent like Patrick Kane I’m sure the Maple Leafs will find some way to make it work.

Here is the more pressing reason why Kane to Toronto might work: the Maple Leafs are desperate to finally do something in the playoffs. No fan base, city, or organization is as impatient as the Maple Leafs, and the pressure to do something big and bold might push general manager Kyle Dubas to go the extra mile to bring Kane north of the border.

In his latest NHL mailbag, Dan Rosen explained in a hypothetical first-round matchup between the Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning once again that Tampa Bay would be the better team unless they make a big move via trade.

Interestingly, Kane was one of the potential trade targets Rosen mentioned.

I understand why Chicago would want to keep Kane for as long as they could. The fact they’ve done near-nothing else before this season to prepare for life after Kane (that Seth Jones trade is going to look incredibly ugly) makes this move even all the more important.

Chicago needs to get as much as it can. Toronto is in a “win yesterday” type panic, so they might be more willing to “overpay”, for lack of a better word. Don’t lie, you know watching Kane and Mathews together would be amazing.

Of course, none of this has taken into consideration any cap concerns. It’s worth noting that the Maple Leafs have exactly zero dollars in projected cap space.

It might take a lot of cap gymnastics to make Kane to Toronto work, but isn’t everything worth considering to finally break through in the playoffs?