Patrick Kane has reportedly made his free-agent decision, signing a one-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday morning, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and Chris Johnston of The Athletic.
The future Hall of Fame forward adds another big name to the Red Wings lineup, which will only increase expectations for the team. Detroit is off to one of its best starts in years at 11-6-3 and is looking to snap a seven-year playoff drought and bring some validation to the Steve Yzerman plan (aka: The Yzer-plan).
To this point, the results have not been encouraging for the general manager, and if they do not get closer to the playoffs this season—especially after all of their additions in recent years—it will be time to start seriously questioning what is happening there.
While he is a big name and one of the best offensive players of his era, there is a significant amount of risk with this move.
For one, Kane is 35 years old and has started to develop some significant flaws in his game, mostly due to his five-on-five play and defensive ability. There were times that he seemed like more of a liability than an impact player for the New York Rangers after they acquired him last year, and it’s unclear how much he has left in the tank.
The other big variable here is that Kane is coming off an offseason hip-resurfacing procedure that has proved to be quite the obstacle for other players to come back from. We just saw the struggles Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom went through and how quickly his career seems to have ended.
Given those two things, it is going to be important for the Red Wings to make sure they realize what version of Kane they are getting, avoid overusing him and put him into positions where they can highlight what he can still do and hide what he can not do.
Their ability to do so, as well as Kane’s ability to come back from his hip procedure, will dictate how this signing works out.
For now, let’s take a look at some early winners and losers from this move.
