Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman reported Sunday night that there is "momentum growing" for Patrick Kane to re-sign with the Detroit Red Wings. If he doesn't, he will become an unrestricted free agent at noon July 1.
The Patrick Kane free agency saga continues to play out in the no man's land of wishes and hypotheticals. But according to Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman, there might be some more concrete direction on Kane's potential return to the Detroit Red Wings.
Friedman reported Sunday night that there is "momentum growing" on a Kane extension with the Red Wings. Kane, 35, is a pending unrestricted free agent coming off a 47-point season.
"Momentum" certainly isn't a definitive answer that Detroit might actually sign him. Since the day the Red Wings' season ended, his return has been the biggest will-they-won't-they story since Ross and Rachel from "Friends." But over the past 24 hours, the situation has grown to suggest that Kane might be more likely to return. Saturday night, Kane's agent Pat Brisson, the same representative for captain Dylan Larkin, told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun and Chris Johnston that "We’re still talking to Detroit. The intention is to try and work something out."
Now at the proverbial 11th hour of negotiations, Detroit has until noon July 1 to sign Kane before he hits the open market, and there are already suitors out there. Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli reported that the Montreal Canadiens are expected to pursue Kane if he hits the open market. Larry Brooks of the New York Post has also reported that the New York Rangers are interested as well.
Asked about retaining his unrestricted free agents at the NHL Draft on Saturday, Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman told reporters that his team probably wouldn't be able to keep everyone given their cap space.
"We’re just not gonna have enough money to bring everybody back,” Yzerman said. “It’s not the way it’s gonna work. And we’d love to bring everybody back but we’re not bringing everybody back, and we’re trying to make these deals with all these guys that allow us to bring them all back. But I’m not sure we’ll be able to do that.”
Clearly, keeping Kane has been one of the top priorities for the Red Wings. Even if retaining him prices the Red Wings out of retaining players such as Shayne Gostisbehere or even David Perron without a pay-cut, Kane brings a level of automatic scoring that has been lacking over the years. Even at an advanced age and even coming off of a hip resurfacing surgery that all but ended other patients' careers, Kane's big first season in Detroit was stellar. Because of that, Detroit wants more so long as it gets the right price.
Given the length and time of negotiations, as well as the way Yzerman has worked to clear out cap space, he's doing what he can to bring Kane back. As momentum grows, as Friedman put it, perhaps Yzerman can keep his star.
