Patrick Kane underwent hip resurfacing surgery today and will have a 4-6 month recovery time. (Friedman)

Kane’s agent told Elliotte Friedman that Kane wants to play “for a long time” and that the doctors are “optimistic” that can happen. (Friedman)

Adam Rotter: This was expected and certainly goes a long way in explaining how limited Kane was with the Rangers. He probably could have had this surgery at any point during this past year but tried to play through it to varying degrees of success. The Rangers knew all of this, knew he was compromised when they acquired him and it’s one of the main reasons why they chose to go for Vladimir Tarasenko and then only added Kane after he sort of forced his way onto the team for a low cost.

The question is what is next for Kane. He’s probably going to miss the start of the season and I don’t know how many teams are going to risk multiple years at a decent cap hit for him coming off this surgery. Could he end up back with the Rangers? I think so, but probably only on a one-year deal at a relatively low cap hit. Would someone like his hometown Sabres be willing to give him multiple years and play a role like Claude Giroux is doing in Ottawa? Maybe, but I don’t know how many places he would really consider. Maybe it’s different than the trade deadline where he seemed to only really want the Rangers and now he’d be willing to explore any number of potential contenders.