Evander Kane trade analysis: Sabres follow LA Kings template, tad prematurely

There is a place between tanking and rebuilding on the fly. We know it exists because Darcy Regier, in his final end of season press briefing as general manager, mentioned it as a possibility for the plummeting Buffalo Sabres: That unlike teams that go into the tank for five years to amass elite prospects, some teams can augment a strong nucleus by aggressively upgrading the rest of the roster at the cost of strong young players and draft picks.

He cited the Los Angeles Kings as an inspiration for that plan, which is nice when you have Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty and Jonathan Quick as your foundation and then you trade talented young players for Jeff Carter and Mike Richards.

In case you haven’t noticed, the Buffalo Sabres don’t have that core.

It could be argued they don’t have any core, at the moment. Not until their franchise player arrives in June, and the gaggle of talented prospects in their system fill in like planets around the Chosen Sun.

And yet GM Tim Murray saw the same opportunity that Dean Lombardi did when he acquired Carter and Richards: He was offered an established offensive player that had worn out his welcome with one team, and had the assets to trade for him.

Welcome to Buffalo, Evander Kane.

Kane was traded with defenseman Zach Bogosian and goalie Jason Kasdorf for defenseman Tyler Myers, winger Drew Stafford, prospects Joel Armia and Brendan Lemieux and a 2015 first-round of their choice (likely the pick belonging to the St. Louis Blues).

This is the difference between Tim Murray and someone like Regier: One guy talks about flipping prospects to aggressively improve the team, and one guy actually does it.

You have to give to get.

Joel Armia, 21, is a former first-round pick in 2011 that has spent the last two seasons in Rochester; a 6-3 forward some project as top six. Brendan Lemieux, 19 next month, was a second-round pick (31st overall) last summer and is the son of Claude Lemieux. You hate giving up on a player that can score and pester like his ‘Pappy.

Myers was a player other very smart hockey men – Bob Murray, Ken Holland – wanted on their rosters, believing they could recapture the game he had in his first two years as a pro. His cap hit ($5.5 million) and contract (through 2019) were seen as favorable for a player that’s shown, through the years, a rather high ceiling. (And not just because he’s 6-8.)

Tim Murray said he didn’t want to move any of the three, to the point where he was telling anyone that asked about Myers that the price tag was nearly insurmountable.

Then Kevin Cheveldayoff asked if he wanted a slightly damaged Evander Kane.

Murray understands trading young talent for established talent. The Ottawa Senators made the Bobby Ryan trade when Murray was an influential assistant GM there, dealing away Jakob Silfverberg and Stefan Noesen.

It was in Ottawa Murray fell in love with Kane’s game. He jumped at the chance to acquire him for the Sabres on Wednesday. “He’s known for some time that I’m a fan,” said Murray, referring to Cheveldayoff.

“He wanted a fresh start. He wants to play a big role on a competitive hockey team.”

And that’s the trick, isn’t it? Finding a way to inject maturity into Kane like a performance enhancing drug? Hoping that a clean slate and a new environment allows him to play without a target on his back from the media at all times?

Know this about Kane: Beginning on Draft Day 2015, he will be no better than the second most scrutinized offensive player on the team. This will be the Connor McDavid Sabres or the Jack Eichel Sabres. Hell, once Sam Reinhart is NHL ready, Kane might be third wheel.

But how Kane adapts to Buffalo has less to do with Buffalo and more to do with Kane.

Yes, the coverage of this guy was completely unfair and deplorable at times – who else in the NHL has gotten the “he skips out on paying restaurant bills” scrutiny? But there were clearly issues in that dressing room, to the point where Dustin Byfuglien dumped Kane’s clothes in a cold water bath to send a message, necessitating the end of his time in the ‘Peg. (And that suddenly mandatory surgery.)

It didn’t work out in Winnipeg. It doesn’t mean it won’t work out for Kane.

The NHL is littered with young, established goal-scorers who are shipped out of town for alleged behavioral issues, who then post star-making numbers. Phil Kessel was a problem in Boston. So was Tyler Seguin. So was Jeff Carter, in Philadelphia and then in Columbus. So was Patrick Kane, who somehow found a Blackhawks team willing to commit to him during legal entanglements and well-documented pub crawls.

Is it unfathomable that we one day add Evander Kane to that list?

Bogosian is a lot like Myers in their development, but without those two seasons that Myers had to establish himself as a potential NHL star. “Zach Bogosian’s biggest problem this year and last year was that he’s trying to do more than he should. He got the big contract and he tried to do everything,” Jim Toth of CJOB told me on our podcast.

The weight of a big contract crushing him, and injuries dogging him, Bogosian hasn’t been able to become that great skater with toughness that the Thrashers saw in him when they selected him right behind Doughty in the draft. He’s an upstate New York guy, born in Massena, heading to western New York to play.

(And while Myers will have Charlie Huddy as a role model, the worst kept secret in hockey is Tim Murray’s desire to have Luke Richardson as his coach in Buffalo – a very nice mentor for a player like Bogosian.)

The trade is, at the moment, a win/win. Stafford and Myers help the Jets immediately, as does ending the Evander Kane saga; the prospects they received are of a high quality.

The Sabres get a healthy Kane next season to play on ‘McEichel’s’ wing without worrying that he’ll contribute to wins they don’t need this season. They get Bogosian for their blueline, which is going to feature potential studs like Mark Pysyk, Nikita Zadorov, Rasmus Ristolainen and Jake McCabe.

Well, eventually it will.

And that’s what makes this trade unlike the Los Angeles Kings template: It’s ahead of schedule. Murray says Kane wants a “big role on a competitive hockey team,” but honestly he can only deliver the former to him next season.

There’s no telling when this team is going to be ready to contend. When Lombardi made the Richards and Carter moves, the Kings had made the playoffs in consecutive seasons. Murray makes this trade before they even know whether to stitch Eichel or McDavid jerseys for the Sabres team store.

Which should tell you how badly he wanted to add Kane to this team. Murray knows the risks. He’s no doubt fantasized about the reward, in which Cheveldayoff’s words about Myers could come back to haunt him about either Kane or Bogosian:

“Sometimes in this game, fresh starts are really welcome to players that have lots of expectations heaped on them and lots of hype.”

Fresh start for Kane. New era coming for the Sabres. The expectations and the hype will follow. And, if the Kings’ team building can be replicated, you know what comes next – winning the thing Terry Pegula said is the sole purpose and objective for this franchise.

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