Reports canucks in talks for kane

[orcasgonewild]

Here's the article: https://www.google.ca/amp/www.fanragsports.com/nhl/fleshing-mckenzies-report-canucks-interest-evander-kane/amp/?client=ms-android-bell-ca 

 

And for u lazy ones LOL: 

Vancouver Canucks + Buffalo Sabres + Evander Kane = sooooo much fuel for social media and sports talk radio.

TSN’s Insider Trading sparked a lively discussion Tuesday evening when Bob McKenzie mixed all three delicious ingredients to create his magical elixir.

“It’s no secret whatsoever. The No. 1 need for general manager Jim Benning and the Vancouver Canucks is a goal-scoring winger,” said the preeminent NHL Insider. “And in the summer, they went to the Buffalo Sabres to find out whether Vancouver native Evander Kane might be available for trade. For a variety of reasons, that didn’t materialize at all. But it is believed that Vancouver, amongst its many other options that it’s considering, is going back to Buffalo and checking on the availability of Evander Kane. I think it’s too soon to say whether this gets any traction whatsoever.

“And for those that would love to connect dots and say, ‘Hey, Jake Virtanen has been in LimboLand right now with the Vancouver Canucks. Maybe he could be part of any package to Buffalo or somewhere else for Evander Kane.’

“Keep in mind, if the Buffalo Sabres – and I say ‘if’ the Sabres decide they want to move Evander Kane – their No. 1 and primary target is to try and bolster their own blueline.”

Friedman on Evander Kane: Nos. 5 and 6 in Wednesday’s 30 Thoughts

A short time later, McKenzie appeared on Toronto’s TSN 1050 to do one of his radio hits, and was able to flesh out the topic beyond what he could cram into that short Insider Trading segment.

“Here’s what we know,” began McKenzie Tuesday evening. “In the summer, Jim Benning went to the Sabres and said, ‘We need scoring and I’m interested in a homecoming of sorts for Evander Kane, a Vancouver native.’

“At that time, I don’t believe the Buffalo Sabres were interested in moving him. And then secondarily, Evander got himself into some legal entanglements in Buffalo in the summer…

“… I think for a variety of reasons the Sabres weren’t looking at that (trade option) and so that was that.

“My understanding now is that Vancouver – and it’s no secret whatsoever. Jim Benning has basically said this almost since the puck drop in the beginning of the season. The element that they feel they’re missing right now is a goal-scoring winger. Somebody that can bang 20 for sure. And Evander Kane, whatever you think of him, can bang 20 for sure. Like on his bad years, Evander Kane scores at a quarter-goal a game rate. So a 20-goal man. And on his good years, he’s a 30-goal guy. But comes now with some baggage.

“So anyways, my understanding is as part of their continuing search for a goal-scoring winger in the trade market that Vancouver has gone back to Buffalo and seeing where they’re at. And I’ll be curious – and I don’t have the answer on whether Buffalo is more inclined now than they were before – but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are. And that’s just an opinion. That’s not based on ‘Insider knowledge.’

“Simply because you remember when he came back from his injury and they asked Danny Bylsma, ‘What did you think of Evander Kane’s game tonight?’

“And he’s like, ‘(Makes soundless whistling noise) Hmm. Hmm.’ And he didn’t know where to go with it for the longest time. And he was absolutely damning him with faint praise.

“Buffalo needs help on the blueline. So I don’t know if there’s a fit there, or what the price would be. As soon as you mention even the mere notion that two teams might be talking or that there might be a target there for Vancouver, people are going to go crazy. ‘What about Virtanen? He’s in limbo. So we’ll move Virtanen.’

“All I can tell you is this: I think Buffalo, if they’re going to trade somebody like Evander Kane – and I say if – that their primary return that they’d be looking for would be a defenseman. That’s the area that Buffalo needs improving.”

A short while later in the discussion, McKenzie went over the potential defensive trade targets from the Canucks.

“Nobody is going to want Edler because of age,” surmised McKenzie. “For sure anybody that’s going to do a deal with Vancouver is going to say, ‘Yeah, give us Chris Tanev.’ They’re not trading Tanev. He’s too important. He’s a top-pairing guy for them.

“So then the question becomes – now you get to your second pair. What about Ben Hutton. He’s an intriguing guy. He’s a very underrated guy. He’s a big body. He’s got some offensive ability. That would be the guy I would think most teams would say, ‘Okay, if we’re going to give up a potential 20-goal scorer, then we want a potential Top-4, Top-5 defenseman in Hutton.’

“So I don’t know whether Vancouver has any interest whatsoever in going down that road. They’d probably say, ‘You can have Luca Sbisa is you want.’ But nobody is going to want a third-pair guy that in their mind makes too much money for too long.”

“So that’s where trading becomes so difficult if you’re Vancouver, unless you’re willing to create a hole,” continued McKenzie. “And then I don’t even know if anybody has interest or if Vancouver would even want to go down that road. But they’ve got the young kids. Stecher is the guy that everybody in Vancouver loves right now. Signed as a free agent. He’s done a great job in times that he’s played, but he’s been up and down between there and the minors.

“And then you’ve got the big Russian kid, Tryamkin. The big 6-foot-7 guy.

“So we’ll see. We’ll see where it goes. As I say, trades are not easy to do. But they’re certainly looking, I think, in Vancouver.”

The first TSN Insider in the rotation for Vancouver’s TSN 1040 radio Wednesday morning was Pierre LeBrun, who had actually reported weeks ago on the Canucks’ desire to find another scorer. He noted general manager Jim Benning had been trying to do this all summer, but that it’s not an easy task to accomplish in a cap world.

In terms of McKenzie’s report though?

“Bob was cautious in his reporting,” noted LeBrun. “He just said there’s obviously been conversations, but that’s not to suggest that it’s going to happen.”

“So everyone needs to take a deep breath,” he laughed.

After some more discussion on the Canucks’ season in general, LeBrun was asked about the appetite on the Sabres’ side of this potential Evander Kane trade equation and if they’re “trying to unload Evander Kane given the baggage there’”

“We’ve heard for months and months that – I mean, not unload to the point of giving him away,” said LeBrun. “I think the idea that I always had was that if someone called with a decent offer they might listen. Obviously there have been issues in Buffalo and things happening, so probably a change of scenery – I’m not sure the Sabres would be totally against it.

“But I don’t get the sense – this isn’t a fire sale at all. If there’s a hockey trade there, Buffalo might do it. But if not, they’re more than happy to keep him.”

In mid-September, the subject of Kane’s legal issues was broached with Darren Dreger on Montreal’s TSN 690.

Specifically, Dreger was asked if from what he was hearing around the league at the time, if Kane is someone that GMs, coaches, and even players think will be able to turn over a new leaf “and shed the reputation he’s rightfully earned here.”

“Well, there’s always hope, right?” began Dreger on September 13. “Look, Tim Murray and the Buffalo Sabres don’t make that mammoth deal with the Winnipeg Jets if they know that they’re getting a player who isn’t going to be able to keep his nose clean off the ice. They know what they’re hoping to get in the player on the ice, and that’s potentially a star player. But you can’t have all of this extra nonsense that continues to go along with him.

“I would say that a good portion of it is not deserved; but because of his reputation, this kind of thing is going to plague him. It’s going to follow him. He’s become a poster boy in terms of the NHL bad boy club. Not unlike Sean Avery back in the day. Wherever Sean Avery went, there was always somebody looking. ‘Oh geez, there’s Sean Avery. Let’s see if we can poke the bear here a little bit.’

“I’m not making excuses for Evander Kane. Probably a great deal of what he’s been accused of he’s partly responsible for anyway. Not all of it though. And because of that, there’s always going to be something that seems to plague this guy. But he does need a season, two seasons, five seasons of just staying out of the headlines for anything other than what he’s doing on the ice.

“But as long as he continues to be an impactful player and stays healthy on the ice, then there’s going to be that team, that general manager, that’s willing to take a chance on him if Buffalo gets to the point where they’ve had enough.”

For the even lazier ppl: 

-Bob Mackenzie says the canucks have chatted with buffalo about kane

- he speculates what vancouver could offer as buffalo wants to bolster their blue line

- suggests canucks have to overspend to get him with virtanen or Hutton 

 

My opinion: 

- we shouldn't have to overspend for a player who hasn't been consistent and is a troublemaker

- id like to have him becuz he's young and has scoring potential

- Sbisa +b prospect is enough to get kane and retained salary

-buffalo is playing kane on the fourth line theres no reason to sell him high when he's already making 6 million

[Kevin Biestra]

All I know is the Canucks would end up retaining salary and getting mediocre prospects if we were the ones trading Evander Kane.

 

Hopefully we don't make Buffalo look like geniuses.

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