The Patrick Kane To Rangers Discussions Continue To Heat Up
The New York Rangers are in a great position to start the season.
First in the Metropolitan Division, playing a brutally difficult schedule with the West Coast travel, and here they sit, at 7-2.
The five-game road trip they swept was really impressive when you break down the numbers.
The Rangers outscored the opposition by two goals per game and the offense has been booming with some great contributions from players like Chris Kreider, Adam Fox, Alexis Lafreniere, and Artemi Panarin during the five-game road stretch.
Even Mika Zibanejad has been lighting it up the last two games after a slow start to the season. But that hasn't stopped the discussions of free agent Patrick Kane joining the team.
Most Rangers faithful will love nothing more than a second chance with arguably the greatest American born hockey player, myself included in that group.
Just check on social media when you search up Patrick Kane, many come up with reasons to add the future Hall-of-Famer. Here are some examples.
Another user details some of the worse production performing forwards on the team that could be replaced by Patrick Kane in the hopes of making the squad more dynamic.
Adding Patrick Kane in the lineup will no doubt improve on a team that ranks 15th in the league in goal scoring.
But the question that needs to be raised is the injury concern. Will he be healthy enough throughout the season to contribute when the team needs him, especially with the hope of making a deep push in the playoffs?
Another concern is something that is not discussed enough lately; the cap space, which the Rangers, along with almost every other team in the league, is lacking in.
The Rangers currently have just under $760,000 in cap space, and would need to free up much more to compete against other teams like the Buffalo Sabres, who have plenty of cap space to win any bids and sign him.
But doing so might compromise their depth chart, and thin the lines, an issue that has plagued them at the end of last season and in the playoffs in their first round loss against the New Jersey Devils.
Hopefully whichever choice the Rangers decide to make, if they will pursue Patrick Kane or not, will not compromise the system head coach Peter Laviolette is implementing onto this team.
| POLL | ||
Are you still on the camp of signing Patrick Kane to the Rangers despite the team's early success? | ||
| Yes | 102 | 50.7 % |
| No | 99 | 49.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
