(WFAN) With the Rangers acquiring Vladimir Tarasenko on Thursday, many assume that Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane is no longer a suitor for the Blueshirts.
That doesn’t seem to be sitting well with Kane, based on comments he made Friday.
“It's not like the happiest I've been to hear about a trade,” Kane said, according to Mark Lazerus of the Athletic. “I think the Rangers are a team that you definitely pay attention to and definitely are intrigued by, for obvious reasons. If things were going to happen, that was a team I was definitely looking at. It seems like they kind of filled their void and went ahead and made a deal, so it is what it is.”
Kane was seen as top target for the Rangers, but they now have a new forward -- who's also a former Stanley Cup champion -- and while it seems like Kane would've waived his no-trade to come to New York, it doesn’t seem like that will be an option anymore, as Tarasenko fills the need the Rangers had for a goal-scoring winger.
As for Kane, who some may view with caution as a potential trade deadline pickup due to a hip injury, he believes the status of his hip is being blown out of proportion.
“Yeah, I think so,” Kane said. “I'm not sure what the story is to be honest with you, but I feel better than I did last year. It's just one of those things that maybe the story leaks out and it piles up a little bit.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1.
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