Fast & Furious Trade Market: Kane, Meier And More! | February 25, 2023

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I know you look down on your phone just in case stuff happens. I will probably have my eyes darted towards Twitter just in case something happens. Legit, like seconds before we started, Boston, Colorado put together a trade. Shane Bowers for Keith Kincaid. Like, shit could happen at any moment. Right. And the odds of any of this not being dated at some point when you're listening to it are pretty low. So that's a disclaimer right off the top. Because the bullets are flying now. There's lots cooking. I'm a scatter brain mess in the best way possible because I'm having lots of fun. But my phone is, yes, it's lighting up a fair bit. So let's start with the big news of the day, Julia. And I think that Patrick came. We got to get right into it. The machinations now seem to be happening for him to be moved by the Chicago Blackhawks. You know, we'll stick to what we know at this point in time. Patrick Kane has left the team. The team is in San Jose on Saturday where they play tonight. He's left the team to return home to Chicago. You know, pretty in the last 24 hours, I think there's been a lot of discussion behind the scenes about a potential move to the Rangers. We started to see the Rangers make some cap type maneuvers, including keeping Jake Lucision and Vitalik Craftsaw better their lineup for a game Saturday afternoon. And it's believed both of those players would have to be removed from the roster at minimum to fit Kane's contract on, even at 25%, even with double retention. And at this hour, we don't know that Patrick Kane has formally waived as no movement clause or given Blackhawks management a reason to believe he would wave it. But I would say this, I don't think all of the previous things that I said that are now in place are happening unless there's some understanding that that's the case. And so, you know, this is going to be a developing story. It seems like the only thing at this stage holding up a potential trade for Kane to the Rangers really is the Rangers cap situation. What complicates things further is they're playing a game actually as we're recording this in Washington on Saturday afternoon. And Ryan Lindgren, a defenseman, you know, suffered what looked like a potentially serious shoulder injury in that game. And so, you know, even as we're recording this, the Rangers don't have a full view on what Lindgren's status is. But, but needless to say, if he's done for the rest of the regular season, for example, that's going to have cap implications, perhaps, you know, because he's the defenseman, it might change what they have to do in terms of trying to get a demand in addition to Patrick Kane. So, you know, we're really in a moving parts kind of situation. So it's hard to pinpoint precisely when this trade will go down. But it's hard to imagine a scenario where Kane would have left the the Black Ox in the middle of a road trip, you know, keep in mind, he's got those 10 points in the last four games. They've won four straight heading into this one, you know, if if a trade wasn't going to materialize. And as we've long suspected, I mean, the Rangers have been the apple of his eye. I don't think there's any mystery about that. You know, what's interesting is some of the Rangers cap complications will call them are because they had in fact moved on from Patrick Kane. When they traded from Vladimir Terasenko, it was because they wanted to jump the market and not wait to see what Kane's status was to learn about his health to see if he wanted to come. And they just they felt they had to make that move. They made a subsequent trade and got Tyler Mott out of Ottawa last weekend. And because of those things, they don't have a lot of cap space. And so, you know, I think it's Kane's willingness or desire that if he was going to be moved to go there, that's really pushed this ball forward because I'd really believe the Rangers were going to not make this kind of trade. And now it's hard to imagine a set of, you know, circumstances occurring where it doesn't happen. I just think it's a matter of everything that needs to fall into place on the Rangers end. And then ultimately, you know, Chicago is going to have to make a trade. They're going to have to have a third party broker that, you know, there's no way this trade happens without the Blackhawks retaining 50% of Kane's salary and another team taking another 25%. And so, you know, we'll keep digging through all all turning over every stone to figure out exactly what it's going to take. But I really do believe we're going to see Patrick Kane become a New York Ranger by the deadline next Friday. So if we know that's what he wants, like, why, what does this hold up on his end with deciding whether or not to waive the NMC and this so-called period of reflection as Pat Pissant, his agent said earlier today, just reading the tweet from Pierre Lebron, Patrick Kane won't play the night from his agent, Pat Bressant, what Pat Pissant, however you want to say it. Based on the current status of Patrick's situation, we collectively felt it was more appropriate to have him not play during this period of reflection. I mean, I think that's semantics, right? Because, you know, there's no trade for him to approve at this time, right? Like the Rangers can't make this deal again as we're recording this right now and be cap compliant. You know, they have Jake Lascision on waivers on Saturday. You know, that goes until the waiver period, two p.m. Eastern on Sunday, you know, where he's either claimed or he clears and they can send him to the American hockey league in Hartford. You know, that's probably one roster move that has to happen. You know, Vitalik Ratsov, who I mentioned, he's requested a trade from the Rangers. It's my belief slash understanding. I don't think he's going to Chicago in this trade. Now, that isn't a hundred percent ironclad, but my my the best intel I have at this time is that he might be going somewhere else in a subsequent trade to clear cap space. So he's not necessarily part directly part of a potential cane move. And so, you know, at this point, it probably doesn't, there's not a lot of upside for them to say he's he's waived for New York because he hasn't really waived for New York because there's nothing to waive just yet. I mean, waving your new move clause, there's actually paperwork, right? Like there's actually in the CVA, something he has to sign that goes along with a trade call, it goes along with the completion of a trade. And so, that isn't before him yet. But as I say, I think that there's been a high degree of transparency and discussion between Pepper song, Patrick Kane's agent, you know, obviously Kane himself, Kyle Davidson and the Black Hawks front office. I think everybody is on the same page here. And so it's now it's just about letting everything have to come together to, you know, to make this deal work. And as I say, I don't want to put a day that it's going to go down now because, you know, this new injury situation could change the Rangers cat picture. I mean, it really is a fluid situation, but, you know, it would be a surprise at this stage. If it wasn't Kane, you know, ultimately going and being a Ranger at some point before this deadline period ends. I have a stupid question. I forget who suggested this on Twitter. And I really apologize. I don't remember who suggested that. But I saw something and it made me think of something. You mentioned the no movement clause for Patrick Kane. Let's say this is a situation where Chicago and the Rangers are concentrating some kind of trade and maybe in order to make stuff work, they got to add like a third party in there, you know, do some, as I like to call money laundering. I mean, it's not money laundering. It's not salary attention, but I'm just making it funny. And they got to put some of Patrick Kane's salary there. Does that mean that he has to like wave his no movement clause like twice? Yes, I think functionally does. I think that's how it works. Because obviously, it the first trade is a trade, you know, it will be recorded as Chicago trades, Patrick Kane to team why for this and then and retains 50% and that team trades him to the Rangers and retains an additional 50%, which is 25% of the overall deal, you know, and there's a few teams out there that are doing this. We mentioned Montreal in the last podcast, they actually have the space necessary to be the third party in the Kane deal. It's not to say they will be, but they do have the ability to do it. I think Vancouver's let teams be known that there'll be that money launderer, third party banker, Roker, however you want to refer to it. You know, we've seen Minnesota do it on two deals. I don't think they'll do it on a third. You're only allowed to retain three contracts, money on three contracts at any given time. I think that they'll save their final spot for other potential moves with their own players. And so yeah, there's a there's a few teams out there that are that are waiting in the weeds looking to basically get an asset in order to pay. And you know, that's the other thing they actually, in addition to Patrick Kane waving his no move clause, they actually pay the portion of his salary. Like, I think it, you know, like how you get paid from the athletic and from the STP and it's, I think like literally a portion of his salary will come from the Montreal Canadiens or whatever team, you know, ultimately ends up being the third party. And it's kind of kind of a strange thing just to share Weber's contract. I got traded to Arizona this week. And now he's getting pay subs with the coyotes logo. And it's his second team since he's last played a game. You know, it's just it's kind of all this weird stuff comes out of a hard cap system. And this is this is the result of where we are. Hey man, diversify your portfolio. I'm all about that. Anything else you want to add about Patrick Kane before we move on to team on Meyer? Nothing else at this point. But you know, this looks like it's happening. I'd be very, very, very surprised if it didn't happen at this point, but New York has to make some subsequent moves. And so, you know, I'll just say this, we saw a deal we thought with Gabri-Kov potentially going to Boston fall apart this week. And that looked like it was going to be done, you know, pending Boston making other moves. So I guess you can't put the car too far out of the horse. You know, because you can't just invent cap space. So the Rangers got to create some cap space. And I think this will be a reality. All right, time for team on Meyer. What do you know? Tell us. The list of teams is getting shorter. You know, St. Louis came in there after, you know, acquiring two more first round picks for Tara Sanco, no Riley. It sounds like they're out of the mix now though. They put both those first rounders, I believe, on the table in their offer for Meyer. You know, the teams, I think, are still in it for sure are Carolina, New Jersey, and Vegas. I'm not aware of anyone still in the picture beyond that at this stage. And, you know, I think, you know, Timo Meyer is being held out of the game for roster management reasons or trade-related reasons, whatever the terminology being used by the Sharks PR staff for that one on Saturday. I did miss a couple games this week with a minor upper body injury. So, you know, I think that we see this trade go down before the deadline because it seems as though I know that at least a couple teams have been told by my career, the Sharks GM that they're out of the mix. I'm really compelled to be honest by the fact that it's the hurricanes and the devil's. I think the hurricanes have up their offer here in the last 24 hours or so. You know, these teams are competing against the Rangers, so to speak, right? I mean, what we have in the Eastern Conference right now is an arms race. All the best players in the league that are being traded. Pretty much are coming into the Eastern Conference. And we have obviously the best teams in the league plan of the East. The West is far more wide open and it's not to say that an Eastern team will win the Cup, but, you know, based on the regular season, the strongest teams are based in the East. So, you have the Rangers loading up in the Metropolitan Division. They're in third place as we're recording this. You have Carolina and New Jersey vying for the top of the Metro Division and they're both in on Meyer. And so, I think that's kind of an interesting dynamic that exists in these trade talks. And so, you know, the price has been three, you know, pretty high-end assets. I think these are going to be high-end assets. I mean, it's a first round pick. It's going to be either the top prospects in these organizations or maybe even young players going back to the Sharks. And, you know, the Sharks are they're looking to put some fresh paint on it, as I've said. They're looking to really overhaul their roster. You know, it's as the days go by, it's less and less likely they're going to be able to trade Eric Carlson at this deadline. So, Timo Myers, their big chip to play. And I think that my career is trying to play it here. And then in the shorter term, not leave it right till Friday, you know, when the deadline period hits. So, you know, some teams are being told they're out. The last one's now standing at the table have to up their offers and see if which one wins. I don't know why I wanted to make like a bachelor like comparison. Just the idea that like, you know, you've got these three viable suitors going for this one piece or one-on-one rose. One rose, man. Who gets the final rose? I can't tell you. Honestly, it's impossible to handicap. You know, there are some people out there. I'll say this that think that Timo Myers wants to play in Vegas. But, you know, the other part of this is if you're the sharks, do you want to trade him within the division? Because you know, if he goes to Vegas, they're going to be trying to get him to sign an extension kind of the way they did with Mark Stone when that deal went down with Ottawa. They immediately got his contract done and within a couple hours anyway. They named him the captain. You know, I think with Meyer, a team like Vegas has cleared out some longer-term cap space by moving the Weber deal. So, they're probably going to be looking for an extension. But then, you know, so it's probably easier to trade him into the Eastern Conference in some ways. You don't have to play him five times a year, four times a year for the next seven years. You know, and then so it just comes down to what the best package is, right? I don't know that you know, that's really the job that my career has. And, you know, what's interesting here is it's such a different dynamic. We didn't get into what the return is going to be on Patrick Kane. I'm still of the view. It's not going to be that strong. Like, I think that the real issue that Chicago has is it's a one-team race and they just have to make whatever trade they can. I mean, this is the opposite of that. This is a player with term. He's 26. He's in the prime of his career having a monster season, you know, going to score 45 goals probably this year. And, you know, so my career can really play these teams against each other and try to get the offers up to a more acceptable level. And so I think that's really where we're at now. It's down to a manageable number of teams. Again, it's three, the only three I know of. If there's another team, it's kind of a mystery team that's lurking in the shadows. And then it's about getting the best package possible and ultimately pulling the trigger on the deal. Okay. So we've mentioned Patrick Kane. We've mentioned Timo Meyer. What about some of the other guys who are scratch for trade-related reasons? I see Sam Lafferty. We kind of sort of mentioned Vitalik Raftsov. Vlas Lab, Gavrakov's already kind of caught in a mention. Luc Shen is also going to be discussed. Where should we start? Well, we'll start with Sam Lafferty. You know, the ask on him is a second round pick. Not to say that that's what they'll get, but that's where the price has been set. You know, he has a year beyond this one. I think a lot of these, we'll call him contending teams or, or, you know, teams looking to make long platforms like him because, you know, he could face off guy versus the tile bottom six player. And, you know, he signed beyond this year at a manageable cap number. And so he's, he's not just a pure rental if you're giving up assets. We'll see if Chicago can get a second for him. You know, we'll go next to Gavrakov. I think what's interesting now is so he's missed his sixth straight game. You know, this his trade-related reason scratch is, you know, dragging on to now. It's like a 12th of his season, you know, with a 10th of the season coming quickly here if he misses Sunday's game and then another one early next week. And, you know, I, I believe we've talked all along that they wanted sort of a David Sevar or Ben Shrot, like return for Gavrakov first and third kind of thing. I'm not sure that first round picks out there for them anymore. You know, a big reason why the Capitol's traded orlov when they did as quickly as they did is because they felt that the first round pick on offer from Boston was the last one that we would see move for a rental player by any team. Just when they, that was their read of the marketplace. And so, you know, Columbus is now regrouping and, you know, likely getting what less of a return than they thought they were going to get in their potential deal with the Bruins. And so I think that that's kind of an interesting dynamic, you know, teams like LA Edmonton, Toronto have looked at this player. I think a lot of them weren't interested at the price that it was set previously. So let's see just how low that price falls and how things shape up. I mean, you might end up getting, you know, this player for, you know, way, way less of the cost. I think it's, it's, it's shifting from what's been a little bit of a seller's market. And if you had the top pieces towards being a buyer's market, that's, that's kind of what I see. You know, craps off, I mentioned, I'm not sure where he's headed. You know, it's funny that they're announcing him. You know, he's now got two of these, you know, scratch for roster management reasons. You know, he was scratched like half the season. They didn't, they didn't announce anything because, you know, they're signaling that he's available via trade. Young player hasn't panned out, you know, former top 10 pick with tons of skill. I think a good, good second chance candidate for someone. And I'm sure the Rangers will move them because they need to open up the cap space. It looks like, you know, and then Luke Shannon is sort of hanging out on the vine back in Vancouver skating on his own as we've covered. You know, we talked about the, the Leafs as a possibility for him. You know, one thing that's happened here in the last 24 hours, Julian, is the Leafs got clarity on a pick condition from a trade they actually made with Arizona last year. And basically Arizona as a Friday night had a deadline that they could choose between taking the Leafs 20, 25 second rounder or the third rounder this year. And then they ended up taking the 2025 pick. Why that significant is because the Leafs now have a third rounder this year. And that wasn't clear 100% that they were going to. And you know, it might take a third rounder to get Luke Shannon. And so, you know, the Leafs are a little bit low on draft pick capital in general, as we've discussed. So, you know, I'm not saying that he's their only target or anything like that. I really think the Leafs, the Leafs are looking to make the best move possible on their blue line. You know, another development that's happened actually on Saturday is they put Jordi Ben, a depth defenseman on waivers, which I think does signal that they are intent and going to get another defenseman for one because they might lose Jordi Ben at his, at his cost point for nothing. And even if they don't, then they can assign him to the American hockey league. And they have roughly, if that happens, if he's off the roster, either by a waiver claim or if he gets sent to the HL, they have roughly 2 million in cap space heading into to deadline day, give or take. And so that's, that's the kind of player they can get. Of course, you know, I would expect if it's a bigger salary player coming in, you know, they're going to have, you know, salary retained and all that, all the like. But it does signal to me sort of formally that the Leafs are, are going to, you know, feel they're going to get a defenseman. And, you know, I think it's a good market for them to explore. And we'll see where it comes. But if it ultimately ends up that Luke Chen's the best option, they at least have the draft pick, I think it's going to take to get him. Jordi Ben on waivers, if he gets picked up, he becomes a former leaf, Luke Shen was a former leaf, you know, who else is a former leaf? Because Barry Caputant, who ended up, getting picked up by St. Louis off waivers today. He did. And this is big for the Penguins. I mean, they've been in salary cap jail all season. They actually had Jan Ruda, a defenseman, who they didn't have the ability to activate from injured reserve. In the short term, that's what the cap and move allows them to do. They were able to activate Jan Ruda on Saturday after Caputant was was claimed by St. Louis. I think, you know, it didn't work out, obviously, for the second go around for for Caspery Caputant and Pittsburgh. But you know, he was signed through next year with a $3.2 million cap hit. And so that does clear the books a little bit for Pittsburgh. I think it, it, you know, it will allow them some room to maneuver at this deadline. I don't really know what they can get done. I mean, Ron Hextahl is under all kinds of pressure. There was fire Hextahl chance in Pittsburgh this week. You know, they have the league's longest playoff, you know, streak in terms of making the playoffs. That's that's in jeopardy, at least. I mean, they're among, you know, handful teams. All of a sudden, we got a great race for playoff spots. The Eastern Conference, by the way, between, you know, Detroit and Buffalo coming on. Obviously, Washington has tailed off Pittsburgh's in the mix there. The Islanders are still hanging around. I mean, it's going to, it looks like it's probably going to go right down to the last weekend. And so Pittsburgh, you know, would like to get a defense. I think I think they'd like to get a forward if they could, but they don't have much cap space. And at least if there's one positive, I think that they'd reach the end of the road with Caputant. He was frequently a healthy scratch this year's production has fallen off. And now they at least got a little bit of breathing room to try and make a move here in the next week. Okay. My next item just says Edmonton. And I'm sure you're not referencing the fact that they're playing as we speak right now against Columbus. They were down for nothing. They came back to tie it. But I think the blue jackets are up two goals on them as we speak. Yeah, crazy game Saturday afternoon. They're playing a pretty crazy game happening behind the scenes too. Right. I mean, we've talked so much about the Oilers because they've been attached to so many of the big names. I mean, even Patrick Kane, you know, they've kept tabs on him and there was some thought it might be possible. I mean, I'm not saying that was a main priority for them, but certainly they were aware that I think Kane would consider them at least. You know, we talked a lot about Eric Carlson. And you know, I look at the board now and I'm like, where does Edmonton end up? I don't know that there's, I think they really wanted to and still maybe want to and I shouldn't speak in the past tense because there's still six days to go. And there could be a surprise out there for us. But you know, I think that they wanted to make a big splash and do what they could to help this roster. And you know, it just hasn't come together at this point in time. And so I kind of wonder if, you know, if they end up just having to maybe settle for a smaller move or what happens. But you know, speaking about a GM under, you know, considerable pressure, I think that Ken Holland is in that position, both with the fan base, you know, we see what special players like David and Drycidal are. But, but you know, there's there's a lot of heat to try to give them the best chance at winning the Stanley Cup this year. And you know, the reality is this is the truth. Like we don't even want to say this because this ruins our pod and everything. But the team that wins a trade deadline rarely wins in the playoffs, right? Like Florida made the biggest moves at last year's trade deadline. It's actually impacted their ability to make any moves this season. And they got swept in the second round. And that's not just to pick on the panthers. It's it's only to cite a recent example. I mean, quite often the six or seven teams go something close to all in and only one of them can win the Stanley Cup. And so it doesn't mean that Edmonton won't still be able to do something. But you just start to get the sense looking at the board and where they're at. You know, they haven't been able to ship out any contracts to create the room needed to bring in players. I think most of the big names are kind of off the board or just not involved in talks with Edmonton. I mean, maybe they circle back on Jacob Tricker and that's a huge maybe. You know, I don't think the Oilers have necessarily loved that player. I know they've been attached to him. A lot of teams have been attached to him. I mean, we didn't even mention Tricker and keep an eye on the Washington Capitals there. I mean, you know, with them trading away Orlov getting another first round pick in that trade from Boston and having so few defensemen signed or locked up next year, I think to dare at least exploring, you know, what it could take to get Tricker and if they might have the fit. So, so, you know, that's a new team that that's maybe resuscitated somewhat some of the Tricker and discussions. But I, you know, back to the Oilers and I realized I'm all over the place. I don't know where the Oilers go is easy answer. I mean, we know they've liked some of the they've liked the Sam Lafferty. You know, they've liked Nick Puget's dad. I think they have some interest in Shane Gostis Bear as a cheaper defensive add. But, you know, if they make those types of moves, you know, I'm not sure how that will be met in the marketplace. It's a tough spot for them. And again, this all happens by Friday March 3rd, you know, by two weeks from that, it might almost be forgotten if the team goes on a hot run or, or, you know, has a great playoffs. I mean, you don't you don't get a Stanley Cup for having the biggest trade at the deadline. But it just feels like the Oilers might have not be in the market now to make a huge swing and to make a big splash he had. Not sure if you're if you noticed it while you were checking on your phone, but it looks as if Vitalik Crafts off is going to the Canucks. That's what Elliot free. Yeah, that's what Elliott free well, Elliott Freeman is saying. That's the only person I've seen talk about it now, but I've seen Arthur Stapor tweet that now. Like I said, this is a show that we're knows a pretty weird time pretty weird time with regards to the trades. And it looks as if Vitalik Crafts off, who we just mentioned being scratched for three related reasons is going to Vancouver. That's all we know right now. We don't know the full extent of that trade. We don't know what's going on. But that just goes. This is something we were trying to prepare for stuff happening literally on the fly. That's all we know right now. Okay, so so we can get that down live on well live quote unquote on the CJ show, Vitalik Crafts off the Rangers former first round pick. I forget from which year going to Vancouver. I know a lot of Canadians fans were wondering if they would be in on Vitalik Crafts off considering the connection with Jeff Gordon. It looks as if he's going to Vancouver instead. Yes, I don't have the full return yet, but I can confirm he's going there. And as I mentioned, the early net so that part wasn't dated. He was not part of the Patrick Kaintre. That was, you know, what I was led to believe. And he is and he is instead going to Vancouver. So let's we almost wrapped up. I'm just worried if we talk more, it's going to be more dated. No, it's cool. We pretty we pretty we pretty much ran through everything. And then this pops up at the end. But I guess the next question I'm thinking of now is as we're talking about Patrick Kane and the Rangers trying to clear salary with Leshis and on on waivers and then the craft soft deal happens. I guess we still have to kind of wait for tomorrow for for the Rangers to be compliant or does that accelerate things? How would you? How do you see it? I wish we could have Hartlaveen on from Puckpedia right now because he's been all over this. But in fact, in fact, he just or either he's working his Twitter or someone else's. This is live from this is from the Puckpedia Twitter. If the Rangers trade crafts off today and send Leshis and down tomorrow with no other roster moves, they would have room for Patrick Kane at 25% cap hit starting on March 1st. They could do it sooner by sending someone else down or including them in a trade. So we, there we go. Beautiful time of year, but like feel the urgency in our voices like this episode. Like I don't even remember anything I've said. I'm I'm not I'd let me I need my lawyer here. Like I'm not responsible for anything I may have said on this podcast because I can't even remember what we said. But we already have this low of urgency and we're still six days from the deadline. Yeah, this is this is crazy. This is nuts. Okay, I think that's literally everything we can go through right now this moment. It's entirely possible. We might see more stuff by the time on this podcast is released. But we're trying to be as up to the minute as we can here. We'll be back on Monday for share with a brand new episode. Continue to get your questions in for ask CJ. We'll get to them and right up until the deadline, man, we're going to be coming at you with some content, man. Yeah, I'm ready. I'm ready to fire this up and do a podcast whenever whenever the mood strikes. So let's let's keep it going, bud. Let's do it for CJ. I'm Julian. So long and for the rest of your weekend and peace.