Chicago Blackhawks: Patrick Kane wouldn’t be that hard to trade

The Chicago Blackhawks probably wouldn’t have that hard of a time trading Patrick Kane.

The Chicago Blackhawks are in a weird spot. They wrote a letter to their fans that they are beginning to trend their roster in a younger direction and the word rebuild was even used in the letter. The problem is that they haven’t shown a commitment to a true rebuild based on all of their recent moves. They did trade away Brandon Saad and let Corey Crawford go in free agency but outside of that, they seem to still try improving their everyday roster in the short term.

It is also hard to claim that they are rebuilding if players like Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane are on the roster. They are all aging superstars but they can still give a lot to a winning team. The one that contributes the most these days is Kane who is still an MVP level player. The offensive numbers that he is capable of putting up make him very valuable to winning hockey.

Patrick Kane is a very tradable player, despite his contract being a hefty one for three more seasons. If the Hawks wanted to trade him right now they wouldn’t have too hard of a time finding a trade partner. There are plenty of good teams with a lot of cap space that is trying to win right now. He carries a cap hit of 10.5 million for three more years.

If a player like P.K. Subban making north of nine million can get traded with three years left on his deal, a player like Kane should be dealt without much issue. He is going to produce a lot of offense for whatever team he plays for and will be productive for the duration of his contract. It wouldn’t even be the end of the world if the Hawks ate some of that salary in order to sweeten the trade.

Trading Kane might come with some negative reaction. The other veterans on the roster certainly wouldn’t be happy and you’d have to assume that Kane himself probably wouldn’t be too happy either. However, this has nothing to do with that. This is simply about those who believe that he will be hard to trade because of his contract details.

A team like the Colorado Avalanche are ready to win the Stanley Cup right now. Remarkably, they really don’t have a high-value payroll so they have plenty of room to make a big splash. They didn’t land Taylor Hall in free agency this year so they still have the room on their cap. They are just one example of a team that would get the most out of Kane while having the ability to get him there. Trading a player this good at this point in his career shouldn’t be too hard at all.