10:22PM: The Red Wings have made it official that they have signed Kane.
Elliotte Friedman says that Kane has a base salary of $4 million, a $1.5 million dollar bonus if he plays 10 games, $250,000 if he plays 60 games, $500,000 if Detroit makes the playoffs and another $250,000 if he gets 60 points and Detroit makes the playoffs.
7:20 PM: Patrick Kane is close to re-signing with the Red Wings on a one-year deal. (LeBrun)
The Rangers were believed to be very interested in bringing Kane back.
Adam Rotter:There was a feeling that if Patrick Kane was going to stay in Detroit that he would have re-signed weeks, maybe even months ago. It seemed like Kane was looking for a new team and the reports were that the interest in a reunion between Kane and the Rangers was mutual. It was never a lock that Kane was going to sign with the Rangers, but it seemed like things were going to point that way if he officially became a free agent.
There has been speculation all year that Kane wanted security in his next contract and likely multiple years, so it’s odd that it took all this time for Kane to only sign a one-year deal. The Rangers certainly could have offered him a one-year deal and they may have even gone to two, but instead the Rangers will have to look in a different direction to add someone to the top-six.
There definitely would have been some risk in adding Kane, especially on a multi-year deal, but with a full offseason of training and then a training camp to find where he fit, I thought it made a ton of sense to bring Kane back. He would have filled some of the leadership they lost in Barclay Goodrow and will possibly move if they move on from Jacob Trouba. Detroit is looking to finally take a step forward out of their rebuild and go for the playoffs, but if it doesn’t work out that way and the Rangers are still patching together the top-six then the noise about a reunion at the trade deadline will be high.
10:24PM: Adam Rotter: This is a similar kind of contract to the one the Rangers likely would have offered him. The bonuses and their structure are likely what caused this to take so long.