How Patrick Kane would fit with the Panthers, Red Wings and Sabres

Plenty of teams have lined up in hopes of signing Patrick Kane this season, but Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman is keyed in on three clubs that stand out above the rest: the Florida Panthers, Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres.

Kane is expected to make his free-agent decision soon, and for all we know, the veteran winger could surprise us by picking a different team. For the sake of space, let’s zero in on Kane’s potential fit with the Sabres, Red Wings and Panthers.

How Patrick Kane would fit with the Panthers

Friedman, ESPN's Emily Kaplan and others report that the Panthers have been Kane’s most aggressive suitor.

If Kane values winning more than money, the Panthers fit that bill as a 2023 Stanley Cup finalist and recent Presidents’ Trophy winner. Impressively, the Panthers have navigated tough defensive injuries this season and sit in a comfortable playoff position.

They’ve also shown a knack for getting the most out of skilled but arguably flawed players — a key consideration being that the modern version of Kane gives up about as much on defense as he generates on offense.

More abstractly, The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek points out that Florida’s warm weather could do wonders for Kane’s rehab from hip surgery. While multiple reports claim that Kane is in better condition than Nicklas Backstrom, both are 35 years old and linger as reminders of the challenges of hip surgery. Few people bounce back from hip issues like Claude Giroux once did.

Florida’s friendlier climate may give the Panthers a better chance than anyone else to get the most out of whatever Kane has left.

All of that is promising, but does Kane truly fit into a Panthers team that loves to forecheck opponents into oblivion? Florida has a track record of silencing such doubts, but such stylistic questions linger.

Friedman brings up more immediate potential challenges: money and years. Maybe the Panthers can open up some cap space, but it would be a tight fit even if Kane settles for a one-year deal when he reportedly prefers one with some term.

About the only good contract news for the Panthers and others is that Friedman notes Kane wouldn’t count as a risky 35+ contract.

Overall, there are significant pros and cons for both the Panthers and Kane in this situation.

How Patrick Kane would fit with the Sabres

On paper, Kane returning to his native Buffalo makes plenty of sense — particularly for a team that’s occasionally suffered from soft attendance this season.

However, as Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News notes, Buffalo could also be a place where the less flattering parts of Kane’s past could haunt him. As much as proponents pump up his impressive career numbers (three Stanley Cups, a Hart Trophy win and 1,237 career points), it’s fair to at least question if he’d be a totally positive influence on a locker room full of young players in Buffalo or Detroit.

That impressive resume could be a double-edged sword if a team like the Sabres commits multiple years to Kane but realizes that a fleet of promising forwards should push him down the lineup. Would Kane grumble if Jack Quinn, Jiri Kulich and others possibly rise and knock him out of the top six?

It’s easiest to sell Kane’s fit in Buffalo in the short term.

CapFriendly projects Buffalo’s cap space at close to $8 million this season, so he wouldn’t need to sacrifice dollars like he would with the Panthers. With Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin combining for more than $19 million in extensions next season, that space could dry up very soon.

The immediate future opens up a lane for Kane, however. Tage Thompson and Quinn are injured, while players like Zach Benson are still getting their feet wet in the NHL. It’s easy to picture Kane’s still-crisp seam passes giving Buffalo’s power play a boost, even if he’s unlikely to help that unit in specific areas of need (faceoffs, zone entries).

Down the line, the Sabres could use a player who’s almost the opposite of Kane: they’d benefit from a defensive-minded forward who can extend shifts in the offensive zone. It made sense, really, that many people dreamed of the Sabres landing Timo Meier last year.

For now, there are worse ideas than the Sabres leaning into their current identity as nearly all-offense, no-defense — which is how most would describe Kane in 2023-24.

Of course, there’s one glaring short-term problem: the Sabres aren’t in a playoff position, and it’s hard to believe adding Kane could be enough for them to close that gap.

How Patrick Kane would fit with the Red Wings

Could the Red Wings be the just-right “Goldilocks” fit for Kane? Maybe.

With about $5 million in cap space, Detroit can likely pay Kane in range of what he’d want for an abbreviated season. Long-term, the money’s starting to add up, and “The Yzerplan” hasn’t detailed what Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond will cost starting next season. Broadly, the Red Wings echo the Sabres in likely having the sort of financial breathing room to make a Kane signing work.

If the playoffs began today, the Red Wings wouldn’t make it, but they don’t face as steep a climb as the Sabres. Steve Yzerman might daydream about Kane raising the Red Wings’ power play above the middle of the pack and nudging them into the postseason.

Beyond a potential money fit, the Red Wings feature Alex DeBrincat, the player Kane most recently made magic with. It sounds like the two remain close, so that familiarity could help Kane make a more seamless transition than other locales.