When news of Evander Kane’s new contract broke Wednesday evening, it was received with a mix of bemusement, excitement, and a lot of hand-wringing. While the Sharks had ample amounts of cap space to spare, they also had an equally large amount of tasks to complete, ranging from retaining their pending free agents to making a run at John Tavares, John Carlson, James van Riemsdyk, or Erik Karlsson (trade). Kane’s signing was the first domino to fall in that, as Doug Wilson proceeded to lock up the winger on a 7 year, $49M deal with a modified NTC*.
Tanking has never been an option for the team.