The Evander Kane trade, expected by many in the wake of his decision to undergo surgery after a blow up with his Winnipeg Jets teammates, turned out to be a massive one.
The mercurial talent was shipped by the Jets to the Buffalo Sabres, along with defenseman Zach Bogosian and young goaltender Jason Kasdorf, in exchange for towering blueliner Tyler Myers, gritty third-line winger Drew Stafford, prospects Joel Armia and Brendan Lemieux and a first-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, according to TSN's Elliotte Friedman.
TSN's Darren Dreger had reported earlier in the morning that the principles of the deal were in place.
Wow.
This is huge for both teams.
The Jets and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, already looking fairly comfortable as a playoff team in the West, added a huge presence on the back end in Myers and filled the spot left empty by Kane's implosion on the third-line wing and strengthened themselves for the postseason push.
Losing Bogosian is a blow, but Myers has the potential to become an elite, Zdeno Chara-esque player, whereas Bogosian is a high asset player but doesn't possess the same ceiling as Myers.
For the Sabres, this move is all about next season and beyond.
They added a monumental talent in Kane they can simply stash on IR and worry about integrating into their young group next season while simultaneously strengthening their position in the Connor McDavid-Jack Eichel sweepstakes in the 2015 NHL Draft.
Armia and Lemieux were top prospects in the Sabres system and it was, no doubt, difficult for Sabres GM Tim Murray to see them go - Armia especially, who has been putting up big numbers in the AHL this season - but the potential of adding a talent like Kane while embracing the losses that may very well bring the first overall pick and McDavid or Eichel to the franchise, was just too much to pass up.
