short takes
Jets' Kane wants out
Despite Evander Kane signing a six-year, $31.5 million contract after a career-best 30-goal season in September 2012, it's been long known that Kane wants out of the icy pasture that is Winnipeg.
The beginning of the end could be on the horizon after an ugly week that included him defying team rules by showing up to a game-day meeting in a track suit, having his clothes apparently thrown in the shower by teammate Dustin Byfuglien and then not showing up in time for the team bus to a game he'd eventually be scratched from.
The immature (tweeted a picture of himself flaunting stacks of cash in Vegas during the most recent lockout) but immensely fast, talented winger has since been placed on injured reserve after playing with a shoulder injury that required surgery and will lead to four to six months of rehab. That should complicate the skidding Jets' ability to trade Kane before the March 2 deadline.
"There's a standard that everybody needs to live up to," former Gopher Blake Wheeler told reporters, referring to Kane. "We're professionals. We make a lot of money. That's the code we live by. If you don't like it then there's other places you can go. This is the way we do things."
It'll take a boatload of assets to acquire Kane. To Wild fans dreaming of Kane, it would seem unlikely the Jets would dish him to their biggest rival.
Five on trading block
Big names rumored to be on the move before the deadline: Arizona's Antoine Vermette, Buffalo's Chris Stewart, Toronto's Cody Franson, Ottawa's Chris Neil and Buffalo's Tyler Myers.
Sabres coach Ted Nolan hopes rebuilding Buffalo doesn't trade a 6-8, 25-year-old right-shot, albeit erratic defenseman: "Tyler Myers is one of those guys you build your team around."
He's got staying power
Undrafted Mark Giordano, a Norris Trophy contender, played his 500th game for Calgary.
"Came out of nowhere. Fought for everything he's got. He's quite a guy," coach Bob Hartley said.
