The Boston Bruins rumor mill is certainly going into overdrive. The Bruins are sniffing around for potential trade opportunities with other teams in the league. There have certainly been a fair share of scouts hanging out in the press boxes of both the TD Garden and the Dunkin Donuts Center. The B’s are seriously looking and one person’s name keeps coming up.
That person is Winnipeg Jets’ forward Evander Kane. This is a royally bad idea. Even if the Bruins were thinking to use him as a rental player until the season ends, it’s not going to go well for the Bruins. It’s unwise, and potentially dangerous. Here are the biggest reasons why Kane should not come to Boston unless he’s playing against the Black and Gold.
Puck Prose
His teammates can’t seem to stand him.
Kane’s attitude seems to be a serious problem in Winnipeg. The latest issue in the Jets’ locker room occurred earlier this week when Kane wore a track suit to a team meeting. Was there was a miscommunication between Kane and the coaches? That has yet to be determined, but his own teammates are coming down on Kane. Defenseman Dustin Byfuglien (who doesn’t seem to have a high opinion of him) is reported to have thrown that track suit into a bath in disgust over Kane’s latest antics. If this was just a player versus player paradigm, it could be written off. But there seems to be more than one Jet that is fed up with him.
“There’s a standard that everybody needs to live up to,” said teammate (and former Bruin) Blake Wheeler. “We’re professionals. We make a lot of money. That’s the code we live by. If you don’t like it then there’s other places you can go. This is the way we do things.”
His shoulder would be an ever-present problem.
Kane met with the team doctors earlier today. It’s still unclear if Kane is using his injured shoulder as some form of threat. If Kane choses the surgical option, he’ll be out for the rest of the season. He was listed as a healthy scratch tonight. The team’s doctor will be out with a report on the surgical option some time tomorrow. The last thing the Bruins need is to go out shopping for a player only to give up potential trade picks for a player who ends up on long-term injured reserve. (Look what happened with former Bruin Nathan Horton in Columbus.)
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Kane’s numbers.
Kane has twenty-two points this season(ten goals). He’s a -1 with fifty-six minutes in penalties. Now let’s compare that to the Bruins. In pure point totals, he matches up with Chris Kelly (who many Bruins fans feel is being overpaid, and he’s making half what Kane does). The entire second and third lines for Boston have more points than Kane. Milan Lucic and David Krejci have more points than him (and Krejci has missed a lot more games than Kane has). He’s a -1. You have to go all the way down to Daniel Paille to find a negative plus/minus on the Bruins current roster. It’s not a good idea to bring someone in who is not a proven powerhouse.
Kane’s salary.
The twenty-three year old is currently inflicted a five and a quarter million dollar cap hit against the Winnipeg Jets. There is no way the Bruins organization can afford to take on that kind of cap hit. The Bruins have just under two and a quarter million left in cap space. That’s three million dollars worth of material the Bruins would have to move. Could the Bruins do it? It’s possible, but the team has invested way too much in too many long-term, high pay contracts with no-trade clauses. You’d be asking a player to give up a spot on the Bruins for a team that just wants to survive past the first round of the playoffs.
Should the Bruins be exploring options to find the missing piece of the puzzle? Absolutely. There are better, smarter, safer, and cheaper choices than Kane. Hopefully, the Bruins will realize this and make a better selection from the players available.