Patrick Kane is still unsigned over 10 days into NHL free agency. Although he is not the same superstar that we saw during the Chicago Blackhawks dynasty of the mid-2010s, a young team like the Buffalo Sabres could use the leadership and talents of a three-time Stanley Cup winner. Not to mention his hometown is Buffalo, and the amount of cap space the team has — just under $7 million — means there is room to bring him in.
Kane’s Veteran Presence to Develop Young Talent
As a 34-year-old, Kane has plenty of NHL experience and has won almost every single award there is to win in the NHL. From the Calder to the Hart to Conn Smythe, he has done it all and won three Stanley Cups in the process. The Sabres’ roster was very thin with playoff experience until the signing of Erik Johnson earlier in free agency.
Kane would provide another Cup-winning presence in the locker room and would be able to help many of the Sabres’ young forwards adjust to the NHL level. He has a track record of playing with younger players and helping them adjust their games and have success — see Alex DeBrincat and Artemi Panarin. Kane could help some of the young Sabres players like Jack Quinn, John-Jason Peterka or Dylan Cozens.
Pairing any of these players alongside the best (in my opinion) American-born hockey player ever makes it hard to envision a way in which these players would not improve their games all-around playing with an all-time great like Kane. Not to mention his leadership on a three-time Cup-winning team is a blessing to have in the locker room and is just another reason to bring him into the fold.
Reset at Home
Let’s face it, Kane was underwhelming in his brief stint with the New York Rangers last season. With a return to Broadway looking unlikely and Chicago fully embracing their rebuild with the Bedard draft selection and moving on from two franchise cornerstones, Kane and Toews, what better place for Kane to reset and potentially end his career after his worst statistical season than his hometown of Buffalo?
Kane grew up a Sabres fan, and many players have at least some desire to play for their hometown or childhood favorite team for at least one season in their careers, even if these teams aren’t in the NHL, as was the case for Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk. If Kane has the desire to come home and finish his career, the Sabres should jump at the chance.
Related: 3 Potential Free-Agent Destinations for Patrick Kane
While Kane would not need to take a “hometown discount” given Buffalo’s cap situation, a one-year deal at an absolute maximum of $6 million would be a solid plan. But the option of getting him at a lower average annual value (AAV) for an extra year or two is always there, even if it does seem unlikely at this point in free agency that Kane gets a multi-year deal with any team, let alone the Sabres.
And for that reason, Buffalo’s front office should lean toward offering a one-year deal to an aging superstar coming off of offseason surgery. That way if the signing backfires and Kane does not improve on his numbers from last season, he can be cut loose either at the deadline or the end of the season.
Timing Makes Sense, But There Are Risks
Finally, the timing of Kane’s first unrestricted free agency and Buffalo finally starting to build a playoff-caliber team again has coincided perfectly. The Sabres also have just the right amount of cap room to bring in a player like Kane. He is not the $10.5 million average annual value (AAV) player he once was, and less than $6 million for one year would be ideal.
Less than $6 million is ideal because Kane underwent offseason hip surgery and could potentially be out until December at the latest. Injuries are always a slippery slope because you never know how the player will perform after the injury and recovery.
With Kane, it’s even more of a risk because he’s coming off of the worst season of his career, putting up 57 points in 73 games. This was the first season not averaging at least a point per game since 2017-18, when he still put up 76 points in 82 games.
On the flip side, Kane’s camp has said this was a nagging injury that lasted throughout the 2022-23 season and into the playoffs, which could explain the dip in his numbers last season. If the hip injury is what caused his dip in production last year, could a fully healthy Kane return to his point-per-game averages in Buffalo?
The Sabres have the cap space and young core that makes bringing in a Cup-winning veteran and all-time great a tremendous idea. It’s going to come down to whether or not Buffalo wants to pull the trigger on bringing in a hometown kid who was a diehard fan of the franchise growing up, who also happens to be one of the best players in NHL history. If there was ever a time to bring Kane to the Sabres, it’s now.