Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Need A Rental?

02/21/2018 at 10:29am EST

from Rory Boylen of Sportsnet,

We’re days away from the 2018 NHL trade deadline, which we hope brings more significant moves than what we saw at this time last year. There are many impactful players potentially available, from Max Pacioretty to Mike Hoffman to, gasp, maybe even Erik Karlsson — each of whom would be huge factors for any acquiring team this season and ones to come.

But we’re going to focus on the top rental players who could be available. We’re setting our sights on guys who are on expiring contracts and due to become UFAs on July 1.

This is not a ranking of players — we’ll leave that up to you — but we look at what each guy is doing this season and what he may be able to add to a contender.

Evander Kane, Buffalo Sabres

At 26, Kane still has a chance to hit 30 goals for just the second time in his career, but he’ll need to heat up to hit that mark. Despite a strong start to the season, Kane has slowed with just three goals in his past 20 games and now has 19 in 60 games overall. The good thing is he generates all kinds of chances and is fifth in the league with 224 shots on goal. A whopping 60.2 per cent of his even strength starts come in the offensive zone, so if he’s moved on to a line with a different team that brings that number down, it could hurt his performance.

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

Email Paul anytime at [email protected]