Maybe Patrick Kane will ultimately become the Rangers’ version of a white whale. Maybe the three-time Stanley Cup winner from Chicago will never make it to Broadway.
But The Post has learned, Rangers general manager Chris Drury is metaphorically saying, “Never say never.”
According to sources, the Rangers have signaled they will try to make it work if Kane — who has yet to declare his intentions — is willing to waive his no-move clause in order to come to New York. We are told interest has not waned in the least since the acquisition of Vladimir Tarasenko from St. Louis on Feb. 10.
That, and not an additional fourth-liner, is the game Drury is hunting.
The obstacles are apparent, both in terms of the cap constraints, which would require identifying a third team to act as a banker in taking a quarter-share $2.625 million cap hit, and the cost in assets such a deal would demand. It would be a tricky deal given the narrow margin with which the Blueshirts are currently operating under the cap.
When the Maple Leafs traded for Ryan O’Reilly last Friday, Minnesota GM Billy Guerin acted as the broker, acquiring a fourth-round draft pick in exchange for assuming a pro-rated $1.875 million in dead space and $74,000 in payroll obligations.
Would it take more than that for, say, the Wild or Coyotes or Ducks to provide the same function for the Rangers and Blackhawks? The third-party team would be on the hook for $167,603 on March 3 given that Kane received $4M of his $6.9 million salary during the summer. Hence, the cost should hold to the Minnesota precedent.
Then, of course, there is the rental cost in assets that the Rangers would have to send to Chicago and the third party in order to get it done. As The Post has previously reported, there is no appetite at all to deal the club’s remaining 2023 first-round pick after having dealt the other to St. Louis. Perhaps Drury could defer a first-rounder until 2024 or 2025 if that is what it takes.
The cost, of course, could be kept within control if Chicago GM Kyle Davidson works with Kane to deliver the wing to his preferred destination — which, with good reason, is believed to be the Rangers. If it is Rangers or nowhere, then the Blackhawks would wind up with nothing if they push it too far.
The addition of Kane, who had scored five goals in three games entering the Blackhawks’ match Wednesday at Dallas, would give the Rangers a rockstar top six that would feature Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck, Tarasenko, and Kane. Behind them: The Kids.
Boy, that would be an interesting group for the vintage Jacques Lemaire to coach, wouldn’t it?
Kane would enhance the firepower up top on a team that plays a high-end brand of racehorse hockey, even if the Blueshirts probably need to dial it back somewhat on their two-game trip, which opens in Detroit on Thursday night before concluding in Washington on Saturday afternoon.
“Definitely [we need] more structure. We’re succeeding in it right now but you shouldn’t have to score four or five goals to win a game, and that’s not the way you’re going to win down the stretch,” head coach Gerard Gallant said. “We know we’re better than that.
“But we’re on a good streak, [22-5-4], that’s a pretty good streak, and we win in different ways. A perfect game for me is winning 4-2, 4-1, something like that. We’re giving up more goals than we want lately, but we’re winning those games. Players enjoy scoring those goals and that’s the type of team we have.”
Gallant reiterated his belief that the team will be solid defensively when necessary, but he is sure not installing a left-wing lock any time soon.
“If I’m going to tell Panarin and Tarasenko, ‘Let’s play defense and trap it up in the neutral zone,’ we’re not going to win like that,” the coach said. “We don’t mind playing that wide-open game — not trading chances — but we’re a team that on the rush and in the ‘O’-zone can make plays and score goals.
“We’re a talented team, so I’m not going to say we’re going to sit back and play a defensive game, because that’s not our style. On the same hand, everyone has to play a good 200-foot game and eliminate those chances against.
“When we’re playing well, we’re attacking, we’re an offensive team,” Gallant said. “We’ve got talent and we’ve got skill.”
And the Rangers will have plenty more of both if Drury can get Kane.
