NHL Rumour Roundup: Which teams are in the running for Patrick Kane?

The winds are picking up speed surrounding Patrick Kane and where the highly coveted free agent will sign. But as Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman discussed in Monday's edition of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, those winds continue to blow in multiple directions.

The three-time Stanley Cup champion remains unsigned after undergoing hip surgery following the New York Rangers' elimination from the playoffs last season.

Friedman explained during the podcast why it hasn't been easy to gather information as there has been a "cone of silence" surrounding the situation. Kane wants nothing to leak out nor do teams wish to have their plans out in the open, particularly those with limited cap space as it would require additional moves that could cause headaches and aggravation with the rest of their rosters.

Nevertheless, Friedman cited sources with good batting averages — "Tony Gwynn, Ted Williams type; they have good numbers" — to discuss the potential destinations on the radar for Kane.

There are a lot of things about a union with Detroit that make sense, according to Friedman.

The Red Wings acquired Kane's longtime friend Alex DeBrincat last summer (the pair played together for five seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks), Detroit has the cap space and it's easy and simple travel compared to other teams in the league.

Having missed the playoffs in seven straight seasons, the Red Wings are now in the mix, sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference with an 11-6-3 record and a goal differential of plus-14.

"I’m really curious about the Detroit one," Friedman said. "They have the cap room, they have the space on the roster, they’re doing very nicely so far this season. As we look on Sunday night, they’re sitting there very much in contention in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. They have the second-best goal differential in their division, they have the third-best goal differential in the conference and there are a lot of people who look at that stat and say, if your goal differential is good it really says something about who you are.

"So, I definitely think there’s a lot of people wondering about Detroit and whether or not he ends up there. I can’t tell you for sure on this Monday morning, but I definitely think they’re a serious team to watch in this."

The Panthers were a team Friedman mentioned during the Saturday Headlines segment of Hockey Night in Canada as a potential landing spot for Kane, who has 451 goals and 1,237 points over his career.

But while discussing Detroit and its relative ease of travel on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, Friedman talked about how one person suggested to him that Florida might not be an ideal destination for Kane after all.

"To be perfectly honest, there was one person who said to me, look, if you’re worried about the travel in the Western Conference, why would you want to go to Florida when Florida and Tampa Bay have the worst travel in the Eastern Conference? They’re remote outposts compared to a lot of the other places," Friedman said. "Now, I don’t know that that’s what Kane is going to be overly worried about. I’ve had people suggest it to me but I just thought I would mention it because I thought it was interesting that somebody brought it up."

The Stars are another possible destination although it sounds like Dallas could pull a George Costanza: it's not you, it's me.

Friedman explained why there might be issues on the Stars' end.

"I think Kane would love to play there, I’m just not sure Dallas thinks it’s the best idea for them," Friedman said. "I think they feel if they’re going to add, it’s going to be on defence."

Friedman added that someone mentioned to him if any team knows what it's like to have players come back from hip surgery it's the Stars. They experienced it already with star players Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin undergoing similar procedures and will have a better sense of knowing what Kane is capable (or not capable) of doing post-surgery.

"I do think that Kane’s been very interested in them," Friedman said. "I just waffle on the idea Dallas really wants to do this."

What would a rumour roundup be without the Maple Leafs? Although Friedman already said previously he doesn't expect Kane to sign with Toronto, don't rule out general manager Brad Treliving having at least kicked tires.

"All I’ll say is this, there are a couple of teams out there who suspect, they said, look, Toronto looked into it even though it doesn’t make sense because it’s kind of Treliving’s DNA to look into things," Friedman said.

Some teams believe the Bruins are in the Kane sweepstakes, according to Friedman, and it makes sense — just not long term at least.

"They’re a good team, they could win, I don’t know if they could do more than one year," Friedman said. "I’m not sure that makes any sense for them but they are the kind of organization that would look at Kane and say, does this help us or in a good year, what can we add to make us better? If you look at last year, they went for it and lost in the first round. They gave up a lot of capital but it was a go-for-it year for them.

"I just think there are some teams who suspect this is a player who won’t cost you anything in terms of draft picks or prospects, he’s a free agent, and they’re good again. I just thought I would mention it because it does kind of fit with Boston’s DNA of we’re good, what can we add at what cost, and this makes sense to me."