New Jersey Devils Free Agency Profile: Evander Kane
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils are officially in offseason mode. Over the next few days, we will look at 20 potential free agents they could look at signing. Today, we look at the San Jose Sharks Evander Kane.
Over the past few weeks, since the New Jersey Devils have been eliminated, I have seen the fans tie them to some of the biggest free agents. At least five times daily, I see conversations on Twitter or Facebook about John Tavares. People mention they want James van Riemsdyk to come back home to New Jersey. One player I don’t see much conversation around is Evander Kane.
There may be good reason for that. Kane has already played himself out of two markets, despite being one of the most skilled players in the league. He signed a six-year deal with Winnipeg in 2012, right after his only 30 goal season of his career. It didn’t take long for them to move on, and in 2015 he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres. In both situations, the team expected to build their team around Kane, and it didn’t really work out.
Then, he was traded to the San Jose Sharks and he was absolutely on fire. He scored nine goals in 17 games in California, then added four more in the playoffs.
Kane’s big problem is his consistency. He’ll go nuts like his four-goal performance against the Calgary Flames in March, but only scored one in his previous seven. Kane is motivated by putting his back against the wall, like when teams weren’t willing to trade a first-round pick at the trade deadline. The problem with that is you can’t continue to put him through that over and over again. Eventually you just have to produce on a nightly basis.
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We’re going to ignore Kane’s off the ice troubles, just because in two incidents the charges were dropped. Just know that teams are well aware that these distractions happened and it could cost him money.
Finally, Kane wants to get paid. Like, really paid. He made $6 million last season, and will likely want a raise from that. If he was a legitimate superstar, you wouldn’t worry about paying a 26 year old with Kane’s skill set. However, despite his skill Kane still hasn’t shown he can carry a team by himself. If you’re paying this guy $7 million plus, then you expect more than between 20 and 30 goals per season.
At the end of the day, while Ray Shero will likely make a call to Kane’s agent, I don’t expect this to work out. If Shero is going to pay that much money to one player, it won’t be to one with the question marks surrounding Evander Kane.