If the Rangers’ recent three-game skid gives any indication, general manager Chris Drury can pull the trigger on that Patrick Kane trade sooner rather than later.
The Blueshirts’ latest defeat came Thursday night, 4-1 at the Detroit Red Wings. The three-game slide comes after a seven-game winning streak during which the Rangers acquired star right winger Vladimir Tarasenko from the Blues.
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On Thursday, the Kane rumors heated up again when the Rangers announced that Vitali Kravtsov and Jake Leschyshyn were unavailable against the Red Wings “due to roster management reasons.” Moving Kravtsov and Leschyshyn makes sense to offset how much of Kane’s salary the Rangers can afford to take on under the cap.
The NHL trade deadline is Friday, March 3, at 3 p.m.
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The Rangers (33-16-9, 75 points) could have used Kane, who has seven goals and two assists in the last four games for the Blackhawks, on Thursday.
The Red Wings (28-21-8, 64 points), who have won 8 of their last 11, used a goal and two assists from former Ranger Andrew Copp, and goals by Filip Zadina, Michael Rasmussen, and Filip Hronek, the last of which came on the power play.
Vincent Trojcheck scored an unassisted goal with 13:54 left in the second period that tied the game briefly at 1-1 before Zadina scored 2:12 later on an assist from Dylan Larkin.
The 34-year-old Kane was the first overall pick in the 2007 NHL Draft and has 446 career goals and 779 career assists in 16 seasons with Chicago, and was a major linchpin in the Blackhawks’ three Stanley Cup wins in six years (2009-10, 2012-13, 2014-15).
