Quoting: NorthernLeafsFan05
I really don't understand the plan in Detroit right now, and I don't particularly like the way they are going about building their team. Feels like more wasted money, that hip surgery is going to be a killer. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see Kane reunited with DeBrincat and I don't think he'll be unplayable or anything, but I don't get it.
I agree with you when it comes to some of the off-season signings and other moves they’ve been making, but I don’t put this move in that category, because this is not a building move. It looks more like a deadline rental in that the opportunities to use their remaining cap space are becoming limited, so they used some of it on a guy with no commitment beyond this season who could give them a bit of a boost if he fits in well. This is actually better than a deadline rental because they get him three months earlier and they didn’t have to give up any draft picks. (New York gave up a 2nd, 3rd and 4th to get him at a similar cap hit at last season’s deadline, and 79% of the people thought that was a win.)
Of course, there’s the surgery, but that’s supposed to make him better, right? He’s a little more than a year removed from a 92-point season, and he wasn’t bad playing hurt last season, so I see more potential upside than downside.
The contract has a no-trade clause but not a no-move clause, so if he turns out to be a disaster, they can waive him and the cap space he’s costing them goes down to $1.6M. I don’t know if this qualifies as an over-35 contract since he just turned 35 last week, but I like that there are no bonuses that could hurt the team beyond this season. But since the contract was signed after the beginning of the season, shouldn’t his cap hit be higher than his salary?