FHN TODAY: Patrick Kane to Rangers, Quick Dumped by Kings

One of the worst-kept secrets heading into the NHL Trade Deadline finally went down on Tuesday as Patrick Kane left the Blackhawks for the New York Rangers.

Kane, a native of Buffalo, would only waive his no-trade clause for the Rangers and they certainly took advantage of the situation.

In what was a complicated deal — one in which Chicago retains 50 percent of Kane’s cap and Arizona takes 25 percent — the Rangers give up a second-round pick which could be a first in 2024 or 2025 if New York makes it to the East finals.

Kane spent close to 16 seasons with the Blackhawks and won the Stanley Cup three times in Chicago. He is also the second-highest scorer in franchise history.

“This has been an emotional time for me and my family, but I feel this decision puts me in the best spot to immediately win another Stanley Cup,” Kane said in a statement.

“This isn’t about me leaving the Blackhawks, but this is an opportunity for me — the Blackhawks did everything they could to put me in a great position and I will forever be grateful.’’

• NHL Trade Deadline Tracker — All the Deals in One Place

Late Tuesday/early Wednesday morning, the Los Angeles Kings sent veteran goalie Jonathan Quick to the Blue Jackets for Joonas Korpisalo and Vladislav Gavrikov.

Per Frank Seravalli, Quick was not happy with the move.

Like Kane, Quick spent his entire career with the Kings — and won the Cup there twice. It appears his final game with the Kings came Sunday against the Rangers; a game he was pulled from.

Full details of the trade should be released later today.

To say Jonathan Quick is unhappy with the trade, I'm told, is "an understatement."

The entire #LAKings team was a bit down after the game, a win, and you could understandably see it in Anze Kopitar's face after a 4-goal night.

Tough deal, Kings trading a franchise legend.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 1, 2023

In other big trade news on Tuesday, Edmonton acquired defenseman Mattias Ekholm from Nashville for defenseman Tyson Barrie, forward Reid Schaefer, a 2023 first-round pick and a fourth-round selection in 2024.

Minnesota also picked up injured Columbus forward Gustav Nyquist for a fifth-round pick.

FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW

The Florida Panthers did not seem to dwell on their disappointing loss to the Sabres as they were hot out of the box on Tuesday and Tampa Bay and got a well-deserved 4-1 win.

Coach Paul Maurice has been preaching the ‘even-keel’ attitude and it paid off on Florida’s west coast.

The Panthers are going to need to come close to winning out in these final 20 — 15 wins should get them to the playoffs — so they cannot get too low when they do sustain one of those losses which will be coming.

• Taking a trip down memory lane as we look at the best NHL Trade Deadline moves the Panthers have made. Some names to ponder: Jagr, Luongo and Sheppard.
• The Panthers were without Sasha Barkov and Sam Bennett on Tuesday night — this much we knew. But benching Grigori Denisenko so Casey Fitzgerald could make his Florida debut was not something we saw coming.
• Maurice says he believes the Panthers will not be sellers at the deadline. We’ll see.
• New video from Maurice, Sergei Bobrovsky, Anton Lundell and Casey Fitzgerald from Tuesday in Tampa is up on the FHN YouTube Channel. You can click the embedded videos below or click RIGHT HERE to see everything all in one place.
• If you hit subscribe (it’s free), you will know when new content comes up.

NHL NEWS & NATIONAL HOCKEY NOW

The Senators had themselves a time against the Detroit Red Wings this week as they beat them for the second consecutive night on Tuesday.

Ottawa, now in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race following a disappointing start, outscored the Wings 12-3 in the back-to-back set.

Detroit has now lost three straight games after winning seven of eight.

• Speaking of your Blue Jackets, Columbus helped the Panthers out by beating the host Sabres on Tuesday night.
• The Pittsburgh Penguins are giving themselves some roster flexibility ahead of the Trade Deadline after placing Brock McGinn and Mark Friedman on waivers. Both can be assigned to the AHL.
• The Philadelphia Flyers are open to all moves — big and small.
• Who is out there for the Vegas Golden Knights?
• The NHL’s stance on trading injured players to be stashed before the playoffs may affect the Montreal Canadiens moving Sean Monahan.
• Cale Makar could be back for the Colorado Avalanche very soon.
• With Jean-Gabriel Pageau still missing, how does that affect the New York Islanders at the deadline?

PANTHERS ON DECK

NASHVILLE PREDATORS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS 

• When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise 
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Sun, ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5 FM-2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• Season Series (Predators lead 1-0): Nashville 7, Florida 3 (Feb. 16)
• Last season: Florida won 2-0
• All-time regular season series: Florida leads 21-13-6, 3 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Pittsburgh at Florida, Saturday, 6 p.m.