Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli names Detroit as a team to monitor when Patrick Kane eventually signs a contract for the '23-24 season
According to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the Detroit Red Wings are one of three teams "to keep an eye on" when Patrick Kane, a former New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks winger, eventually signs a contract in the coming months.
Seravalli leads into this revelation by saying "It’s still kind of open speculation to this point as to where Patrick Kane might be thinking," which is to say this is far from an iron-clad assurance that there is mutual interest between the two parties, much less that he will become a Red Wing.
He eventually names a return to the Rangers, signing with his hometown Buffalo Sabres, and a reunion with former line mate Alex DeBrincat in Detroit as three possibilities to monitor for Kane.
Seravalli notes "these are not the only teams on Kane’s radar," which implies that Seravalli built his list from the player's perspective, which is to say it does not necessarily indicate reciprocal interest from the Red Wings.
Kane is in the process of recovering from hip resurfacing surgery, which he underwent back on June 1st. There is no definitive timetable for his return to action, though it sounds as though he will be ready to play around the month of December.
Over the summer, in the midst of another round of Kane to Detroit rumors, I argued that the move didn't make sense for the Red Wings because of the way it seemed to drip in nostalgia—nostalgia for a different period in Kane's career that ignored the present reality of his injury.
My suspicion was that a post-surgery Kane was unlikely to recapture the form fans might remember from his Cup-winning days in Chicago and that Detroit had already better internal options to pair with DeBrincat, even if the duo was once prolific with the Blackhawks.
If there was a rebuttal to that case at the time, it went that the Red Wings badly needed help when it came to goal creation, and, if there was anything a healthy Kane might provide, it was an undeniable finishing touch.
However, three games into the regular season (an admittedly tiny sample), whatever you may believe about the Red Wings, they do not appear to be a team in need of an offensive boost. DeBrincat has found a home on Detroit's top line beside Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond, while new additions like Daniel Sprong and Shayne Gostisbehere have paid immediate dividends when it comes to boosting the Red Wings' offensive thrust.
With that in mind, Kane's signing would make less sense to me now than it did in the offseason.