Patrick Kane was traded to the New York Rangers by the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.
Chicago received a conditional second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, a fourth-round selection in the 2025 NHL Draft and defenseman Andy Welinski for the 34-year-old forward, who is in the final season of the eight-year contract he signed with the Blackhawks on July 9, 2014. The contract contains a no-move clause, so Kane had to approve any trade prior to the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline at 3 p.m. ET on Friday.
Kane is projected to make his Rangers debut at the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; TNT, TVAS, MSG 2, SN NOW).
New York also acquired defenseman prospect Cooper Zech from Chicago, and the Arizona Coyotes received a third-round pick in 2025.
Selected by the Blackhawks with the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NHL Draft, Kane has 1,225 points (446 goals, 779 assists) in 1,161 regular-season games. He is second in Blackhawks history in points and assists behind Stan Mikita (1,467 points, 926 assists), third in goals behind Bobby Hull (604) and Mikita (541), and third in games played, trailing Mikita (1,396) and Duncan Keith (1,192).
Kane is a three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Blackhawks (2010, 2013, 2015). He also won the Calder Trophy voted as the NHL rookie of the year in 2007-08, the Conn Smythe Trophy voted most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2012-13, and in 2015-16, he won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP, the Ted Lindsay Award as the most outstanding player as voted by members of the NHL Players’ Association, and the Art Ross Trophy as the League’s leading scorer.
“I believe ‘Kaner’ will go down, until the next Kane or [Stan] Mikita comes or [Bobby] Hull comes, as the greatest Blackhawks player to put on a sweater,” said former Blackhawks player, coach and TV analyst Eddie Olczyk. “When you look at individual success and you look at team success, you still have chapters to write but it’s been a [heck] of a ride.”
Kane has 45 points (16 goals, 29 assists) in 54 games this season and 10 points (seven goals, three assists) in his past three, but was a healthy scratch the previous two because of roster management.
Kane skated at the Blackhawks’ practice facility Feb. 26 after flying home before a 4-3 shootout win at the San Jose Sharks the night before.
He is expected to be the right wing on a line with center Vincent Trocheck and left wing Artemi Panarin, who played with Kane on the same line in Chicago in 2015-16, when Kane won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player and Panarin the Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year.
It leaves Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Vladimir Tarasenko as the Rangers other top-six forward line.
Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said Tuesday that he believes Panarin and Trocheck are starting to figure each other out after struggling to establish chemistry together earlier in the season. He also said he wants to keep Zibanejad and Kreider together because they have played together for a long time.
Tarasenko, acquired from the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 9, played with Zibanejad and Kreider in the Rangers’ 5-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.
Adding Kane to the top six also allows the Rangers to keep Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere on the same line. Gallant has said many times this season he believes those three are best together.
The fourth line is expected to feature Tyler Motte, Barclay Goodrow and Jimmy Vesey.
Speculation of Kane being traded to the Rangers increased since Feb. 23, when New York announced forwards Vitali Kravtsov and Jake Leschyshyn would be scratched before a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings for roster management reasons.
Kravtsov was traded two days later to the Vancouver Canucks for forward William Lockwood and a seventh-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Leschyshyn was again scratched for a 6-3 loss to the Washington Capitals Saturday and was sent to Hartford of the American Hockey League on Sunday.
The Rangers (34-17-9), third in the Metropolitan Division, made their third trade before the deadline.
They acquired Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola from the Blues for forward Sammy Blais, defenseman prospect Hunter Skinner and two conditional draft picks. Motte was traded to New York by the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 19 for forward Julien Gauthier and a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft
The Blackhawks (21-33-5), 30th in the NHL entering their game at the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; BSAZ, NBCSCH, ESPN+, SN NOW), will likely miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third straight season and the fifth time in six seasons. They traded defenseman Jake McCabe and forward Sam Lafferty to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday. Toronto had previously acquired forwards Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari from the Blues.
Several other Eastern Conference teams have beefed up in advance of the trade deadline by getting players from Western Conference teams.
The New York Islanders got forward Bo Horvat from the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 30; The New Jersey Devils acquired forward Timo Meier from the San Jose Sharks on Sunday; The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired forward Tanner Jeannot from the Nashville Predators on Sunday; and the Carolina Hurricanes got forward Jesse Puljujarvi from the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.
The Boston Bruins traded for defenseman Dmitry Orlov and forward Garnet Hathaway from the Washington Capitals on Feb. 23, though that was an East-to-East trade.
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