Pros and Cons of Patrick Kane Signing with the Detroit Red Wings

We're less than a month out from puck drop on the 2023-24 NHL season, and Patrick Kane is still a free agent after a relatively uneventful Rangers playoff run.

Rumors have been swirling around about the 34-year-old's future all offseason as he tests the free-agency waters for the first time in a decade. The buzz includes chatter of a reunion with New York, his hometown Sabres and—wait—the Detroit Red Wings?

Is the Yzerplan ready for an addition like Kane? What could he realistically add to the team? Would it be worth it just to see the reunion with Alex DeBrincat?

Behold, these are the pros and cons of Kane to the Red Wings...

Pro: Hashtag Veteran Presence

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Could we see Patrick Kane and Lucas Raymond as teammates soon?

Who brings more tried-and-true #VeteranPresence to a team hoping to transition out of a rebuild and into playoff contention than three-time Stanley Cup champion Patrick Kane?

He had a positive, albeit relatively minimal, impact on the Rangers when joining them for last season's playoff run. It wasn't enough to get them out of the first round and neither was Vladimir Tarasenko's veteran presence, but the two snipers more or less did what they could on the power play, and that's what the expectation was to begin with.

The Red Wings could find success implementing Kane in a similar way—not expecting him to move mountains but providing a scoring boost and experience with winning for the younger players on the team to familiarize themselves with.

Imagine someone like Lucas Raymond getting experience playing with the three-time Cup winner.

Con: He Just Isn't the Same

AP Photo/Adam Hunger

New York Rangers right wing Patrick Kane (88) reacts after losing to the New Jersey Devils in game 7 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series Monday, May 1, 2023, in Newark, N.J. The Devils won 4-0. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Yes, Kane went on a tear when rumors surfaced that he was interested in leaving the Blackhawks for a contender last season. And yes, he contributed to the Rangers with five goals and 12 points in 19 games on a stacked offensive team and a stacked power-play unit.

At 34, though, and having undergone hip surgery to continue to play, he just hasn't been the ultra-hard-to-defend, two-way elite player he was in his prime. And it would be unreasonable to expect him to be.

Nostalgia gets the best of even the smartest among us, though, so we need to keep the context in mind if he signs with the Red Wings and adjust our expectations accordingly.

Pro: It's a Low-Risk, High-Reward Move

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Will Patrick Kane complete Steve Yzerman's "Yzerplan"?

Kane to the Red Wings would be a low-risk move on several fronts.

First, raise your hand if you expect Detroit to hoist the Cup next season. No one? A handful of you at best. Good coaches hate viewing just making the playoffs as a success, so expect Derek Lalonde to say otherwise.

However, the next stop on general manager Steve Yzerman's Yzerplan train is the Wings simply making it to the playoffs in the ridiculous Eastern Conference. It's hardly the end of the world if the Red Wings sign Kane for a mostly off-ice benefit.

Next, we can't imagine the veteran's contract costing a fortune, especially with particularly hard salary-cap constraints this year, and his eagerness to be a part of another winning team (which could be the Red Wings).

Best-case scenario, he has some second-wind, bounce-back season in which he finds a groove and hovers around his career numbers one more time (indulge in the delusion). Worst-case scenario, he's cheap and still usable on the power play. Not much to lose here.

Pro: Mutual Revival with Alex DeBrincat

I love the Red Wings' acquisition of Alex DeBrincat, a super fun goal-scorer to watch with the right linemates and time on ice (looking at you, Dylan Larkin).

The 25-year-old seems primed for a comeback, especially after Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reported he was unhappy in his second-line winger role behind Brady Tkachuk.

Kane, however, told reporters how much he loved playing with DeBrincat at the end of the 2021-22 season.

"I've developed some chemistry with DeBrincat over the years and if he's here and if he's a big piece, then that makes it easier for me, too, right?" Kane said at the time. "Because I'm playing with him every day and he's such a good player and it makes it fun to be out there with him. We'll see how it all shakes out."

The familiarity could be mutually helpful to two players who could really use some comeback seasons. It would also be an investment in DeBrincat.

A reunion could squeeze some more juice out of Kane that another team might not be able to get.

Con: Is This the Yzerplan We Dreamed Of?

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Steve Yzerman.

The whole theme of the Yzerplan has been to stay the course, take no shortcuts and build a team that will have sustained success.

They waited and waited, carefully calculating trades and accumulating draft picks. They've got prospects of all ages and talents stewing at different levels, and young stars like Moritz Seider primed for true breakout seasons.

They've started to use their cap space on players who will actively make the team better, such as DeBrincat.

Is adding Kane and hoping for the best an uncharacteristically sloppy—or perhaps aimless—move? Is he better suited for a team urgently contending for a Cup? Are the Red Wings further along than some of us think (or does the front office hold that belief at least), or does none of the above need to be true?

If Detroit does decide to go for Kane, it might tell us the team believes this group is ready to attempt to contend, and that's a development in itself. Or it could be a simple case of "Cheap player who is friends with our new star and is still pretty good."