Player Discussion Evander Kane - Part 4

[26CornerBlitz]

 

[old kummelweck]

The buffalo media single-handily trying to kill Kane's trade value.

Falk can't crack the top 6 on this sad roster, on the worst team in the league. He's fighting for his NHL career and it must be tough.

 

[sabrebuild]

The buffalo media single-handily trying to kill Kane's trade value.

Falk can't crack the top 6 on this sad roster, on the worst team in the league. He's fighting for his NHL career and it must be tough.

If I’m Falk, I’m jazzed that this team has been a dumpster fire and that let me even get a shot in the nhl.

 

[Jim Bob]

The buffalo media single-handily trying to kill Kane's trade value.

Falk can't crack the top 6 on this sad roster, on the worst team in the league. He's fighting for his NHL career and it must be tough.

This is pretty normal stuff for a team near the bottom of the league.

Falk's response was spot on. This isn't a big deal and just emotions boiling over in practice.

 

[Aladyyn]

The buffalo media single-handily trying to kill Kane's trade value.

Falk can't crack the top 6 on this sad roster, on the worst team in the league. He's fighting for his NHL career and it must be tough.

Let's be real, he should be playing.

 

[Shootica]

The team sucks, everyone is frustrated, and tempers flare. This happens fairly often and it wouldn't even be noteworthy if it wasn't Evander Kane.

But you know that hockey media will eat this right up.

 

[old kummelweck]

This is pretty normal stuff for a team near the bottom of the league.

Falk's response was spot on. This isn't a big deal and just emotions boiling over in practice.

I know that, but Falk used the word selfish. The Canadian media has such a hard-on for the "Kane is selfish" narrative.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Botterill needs to trade Kane before he gets injured and gets nothing. He’s playing a dangerous game trying to wait for a bidding war.

 

[OkimLom]

Professional athletes in the heat of the moment, getting pissed while playing for a team that is at the bottom of the league, emotions boil over...SHOCKING!!!!!

I'm just happy there's enough emotion in practice to have this sort of reaction.

Of Course, the clown show of the Buffalo and Canadian Media will eat this up for clicks.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

The fact that some players were conscious and alert during practice is a positive sign.

 

[Jim Bob]

I know that, but Falk used the word selfish. The Canadian media has such a hard-on for the "Kane is selfish" narrative.

All you have to do is watch a few shifts and you will see that Kane is a selfish player.

Falk saying what everyone already knows isn't going to change his trade value.

There is no GM in the league that will see this and be shocked that Kane was called selfish.

The shocking thing would have been if he was called unselfish.

 

[ZZamboni]

I don't mind Falk as a 6/7 D. He's got a snarl to his game most nights that is in short supply on this team

As far as Kane ... Glad he's doing well. Hope he lands somewhere and has a solid 25-30 goal/season career, and gets overpaid like a lot of one trick ponies do.

Bu-bye. Thanks for the memories.

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

so was Housley's comments about Jack or Ebadner

 

[26CornerBlitz]

 

[Chainshot]

So ... two guys shove and yell at one another in a practice? As Falk said, maybe more of this should be going on considering who shit-tastic this team is. Harry Neile's "punch 'em in the face" comment rings out here -- either get with the program or get punched in the face. Maybe next time they could hurl something more solid than words.

 

[Jim Bob]

Evander Kane all but certainly be dealt by the Buffalo Sabres before the trade deadline, and now we have an idea of cost parameter.

“The price, if the Sabres have their way, will be a first-round pick, plus a prospect, pus potentially a conditional pick in case he signs with that new team,” revealed NHL Insider Pierre LeBrun on a Tuesday edition of TSN’s Insider Trading.

“Now, I don’t think there’s a firm timeline on when the Sabres plan to move Evander Kane – most likely near the deadline. But if a team were ready to pay that price this month, so be it. The Sabres would move him.

“What’s happening now is a number of teams who have shown an interest in Kane are also saying, ‘We don’t know if we’re going to be buyers, we have to play out this month, get to the All-Star break, then we’ll know.’

“So I think there’s a holding pattern there.”

Kane, 26, only has a goal and an assist over his last eight starts, but has been offensively consistent overall this season with 16 goals and 19 assists in 43 games. Only Jack Eichel’s 39 points are ahead of Kane’s totals on the Sabres.

The veteran winger is slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer for the first time in his career this summer, with time winding down on the six-year, $31.5 million contract he signed in 2012.

Kane’s cap hit is $5.25 million, although his actual salary in the last four years of his pact has been $6 million.
He does not have any trade protection in that contract, so Botterill can deal Kane to any team the GM sees fit.

LeBrun followed up on his Tuesday Kane segment with a Wednesday Leafs Lunch radio hit on Toronto’s TSN 1050.

The Insider was asked if Kane was the biggest name he was confident would move before the trade deadline.

“Yeah, no question,” responded LeBrun. “I talked about it on Insider Trading last night, but the price has been established. The Sabres would like to get a first-round pick, a prospect, and potentially a conditional pick for Evander Kane – a pretty big package. The conditional pick, of course, depends on whether that team who gets him re-signs him.

“And that’s a comparable package, over the last couple of years, to some of the rental deals that involved Andrew Ladd a couple of years ago – went from Winnipeg to Chicago. That deal included a first and a prospect. Martin Hanzal last year going from Arizona to Minnesota, that deal included a first – I can’t remember, I think a prospect too.

“So I think Jason Botterill, the GM of the Sabres, has let it be known to team calling that’s the price. It’s a high price. But I think it’s the right thing to do if you’re Jason Botterill because there’s still lots of time before February 26 and he’s probably going to be the best rental forward available. Maybe not the best forward available, but the best rental forward available if you catch my drift.

“So in terms of pending UFAs, I think it’ll be hard to beat Evander Kane in terms of if you’re looking for a winger who can pot you some goals, and he’s done that for the Sabres this year. He’s having a good year.”

An incident at Sabres practice earlier that day was brought up to LeBrun, to which the Insider pointed out “stuff happens in practice” and noted what happened between Joe Morrow and Andrew Shaw with the Montreal Canadiens before Christmas.

Leafs Lunch host Andi Petrillo recalled Kane’s perceived reputation of “being that selfish, self-serving kind of player.”

“I will tell you this,” interjected LeBrun. “I’m not going to go over every single thing that’s ever happened over the years and we know the big story out of Winnipeg before he got dealt, but all I can tell you in the here and now is that the Sabres have really been pleased with the way he’s played this year. That under Phil Housley – and there seems to be a connection there – that he’s played his best hockey.

“Now a cynic might say it’s also his contract year. But whatever the case is, the fact that he is a rental is probably what makes him the most attractive. Because if you’re a team that has concerns about his past behavior, it’s not like you’re trading for him to play for you for the next 10 years. You’re trading for him for two months.

“So you need goals and there he is, and if you don’t like the way he fits then you say goodbye at the end of the year. But if you actually like the way he fits, then maybe you sign him.

“As another GM said to me who’s looking at him, it’s a good test driving option.”

To be fair to Kane in terms of the ‘contract year cynic’ argument, he did have 28 goals last season too.
Kane had 43 points overall last season though, and this year he’s already accumulated 35 points.

The UFA interview period before free agency hits on July 1 is going to be absolutely fascinating to watch unfold in Kane’s case, given Kane’s fairly strong results in his last two seasons contrasted against the off-ice reputation following him over his career.

Just how wary will general managers be when it comes to putting pen to paper this summer?

Darren Dreger had a salient observation on November 10 that may lend some doubt as to whether or not a team will give Kane a max-term contract.

You can read the entire comments in their full context.

“This is such an unfair thing for me to say, but I say it because it’s the mood, it’s the feel, it’s the temperature of what I’m getting from around the National Hockey League,” said Dreger in November at a point of the season where Kane had 15 points in 15 games. “I’m not saying that there isn’t going to be another team that’s willing to give Evander Kane seven years, but if there is I haven’t come across that team yet. I haven’t come across it.

“Now, we’re also in November, early November. Let’s, again, give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he’s going to continue to be the player that he is right now, which is a hell of a hockey player – a player that every team in the NHL can use. If we’re still having this conversation based on how good he is and how well he’s playing, then I’ll rescind that comment because I can guarantee you that the mood and the appetite for Evander Kane around the league will have changed. But it’s in early November and teams are still very, very skeptical. Unfairly? Perhaps, but that’s the way they feel.”

 

[slip]

"Pretty big package?"

Kane for Ron Jeremy, E4.

 

[OkimLom]

There's something Poetic to me about Murray trading a bunch of pieces for a player like Kane, because he was a young player that was talented, that would bring value down the road(as he thought back then), and now here we are with a different GM that has no skin in the Kane game, and he's asking for high value for Kane.

 

[Moskau]

When asked about what happened in practice Ryan O'Reilly responded "We gotta be better". When asked how that had anything to do with the question at hand O'Reilly said "We gotta be better".

 

[26CornerBlitz]

1-10: Evander Kane (2:30)

 

[SundherDome]

So Kane was teaching Falk how to be a better player and Falk was unhappy about it...

 

[AustonsNostrils]

When asked about what happened in practice Ryan O'Reilly responded "We gotta be better". When asked how that had anything to do with the question at hand O'Reilly said "We gotta be better".

lol and then they went to Eichel who responded

'Obviously we're not happy when two of our teammates are involved in stuff like that but we're all frustrated. Obviously nobody likes losing. We have to do our jobs better and that includes me obviously.'

 

[The Old Master]

xxxxx

 

[itwasaforwardpass]

“What’s happening now is a number of teams who have shown an interest in Kane are also saying, ‘We don’t know if we’re going to be buyers, we have to play out this month, get to the All-Star break, then we’ll know.’
“So I think there’s a holding pattern there.”

Seems implied that Lebrun knows who some of the teams are that have shown interest in Kane, and saying they're not sure if they're buyers would indicate they're likely teams near the playoff bubble.

Time to root for veteran teams on the playoff bubble like San Jose, Anaheim, Calgary, Pittsburgh to do some winning this month and establish themselves as buyers. The more bidders the better.

 

[Jim Bob]

Seems implied that Lebrun knows who some of the teams are that have shown interest in Kane, and saying they're not sure if they're buyers would indicate they're likely teams near the playoff bubble.

Time to root for veteran teams on the playoff bubble like San Jose, Anaheim, Calgary, Pittsburgh to do some winning this month and establish themselves as buyers. The more bidders the better.

I am rooting for Carolina to get desperate.

1st+McKeown+Cond Pick

Pleeeeeeease