They filled their team need of a scoring top-six winger, and they topped out their salary cap.
This left Kane, who had been rumoured to end up a Ranger for years, without a place to go come the trade deadline.
This led to rumours aplenty, with Toronto seemingly becoming the main destination of choice. Then, Kyle Dubas and the Maple Leafs opted to go a different route, acquiring Ryan O'Reilly.
Kane was sure to show the Leafs what they missed out on in their matchup tonight, with a dominant hattrick performance. He also dropped an absolute bombshell in the post-game interview.
Essentially, the Leafs were never really in on Kane. This might have been the rumour mill trying to create some excitement around Kane to raise his value, or just logic with the type of team needs the Leafs had, but it doesn't look like it was ever truly an option.
This considered, Kyle Dubas said last week that he wouldn't trade a first for a rental, and here we are with Ryan O'Reilly on the squad, so things change fast.
It will be interesting to see what's next for Patrick Kane, as Showtime's time in Chicago likely comes to an end.
Source Maple Leafs Daily:
Kane finally addresses publicly whether or not the Leafs were a possibility for him
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