Kane Is Gone, and Detroit's Offseason Gets Messier

Patrick Kane has been traded back to Chicago, where he'll sign a two-year, $16 million deal to reunite with the Blackhawks — the franchise where he won three Stanley Cups. For Detroit, it's one more name off a roster that was already short on certainty heading into the most unsettled offseason the organization has seen in years.

Kane played 33 games for the Red Wings this past season, a limited sample that reflected the injury interruptions that have followed him through the latter part of his career. He contributed, but he was never the centerpiece — Larkin, DeBrincat, and Raymond carried that weight. His departure doesn't crater the lineup the way losing a top-line piece would. It does, however, thin a forward group that was already dealing with Arvidsson, Mason Appleton, and Michael Rasmussen all sidelined as of mid-July.

The timing is the part worth noting. Steve Yzerman stepped down on July 15. The Red Wings are currently without a general manager. And the incoming hockey operations chief will now inherit a roster that has shed Kane, lost Cossa in a trade for draft capital, and has three forwards unavailable — all while Dylan Larkin's future remains an open question. Whoever takes the job isn't walking into a clean situation.

Kane going home to Chicago is a fine story for him. For Detroit, it's just another item on a list of things the next GM will have to sort out before training camp.