With the latest noise regarding Patrick Kane and the Toronto Maple Leafs for this free agency period, TSN's Chris Johnston doesn't seem so sure about a fit between the two parties.
There has been plenty of talk and noise regarding right winger Patrick Kane and the Toronto Maple Leafs as a potential destination for him this off-season. Those discussions were kick-started when 2026 first overall pick Gavin McKenna revealed that Kane had messaged him after being drafted and that he was his hockey idol growing up.
However, Chris Johnston on TSN's early version of Insider Trading reported that it seems unlikely that the Maple Leafs and Kane would become a marriage this summer.
"It doesn't seem to be like that's actually something that's likely to materialize," Johnston reported on Tuesday. "I'm not sure that's a good fit as some people have said."
Along with that report, Johnston added that there should be multiple teams lining up for Kane's services, possibly including his hometown Buffalo Sabres or even a return to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Nonetheless, though Kane seems interested in testing out what the free-agent market looks like in his favor, Johnston doesn't believe the Maple Leafs will be among the front-runners to land the three-time Stanley Cup champion.
Though Kane is 37 years old, he's proven to still be an offensive threat and a respectable point-producer in the NHL. In his past three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, he recorded great numbers considering where he is in his career and the major hip resurfacing surgery he went through in the summer of 2023.
This past year, Kane registered 16 goals and 57 points in 67 appearances for Detroit, while averaging 17:42 of ice time. He finished the year as the fifth-best scorer on his team.
Also, he showed no signs of slowing down at the end of the 2025-26 season. In fact, after the Olympic break, Kane posted eight goals and 25 points in his last 24 games of the year, averaging over a point per game. He was the second-highest scorer on the team in that span, only behind Alex DeBrincat's 11 goals and 28 points.
The 2015-16 Hart Trophy winner is coming off three straight one-year contracts, with his latest deal costing just $3 million against the salary cap.
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