The San Jose Sharks announced they were cutting Evander Kane. That isn’t the end of their story. There will be grievances and lawsuits and likely a court date, but the long and the short of it is Kane is now a free agent. He can continue to fight the Sharks for all of his guaranteed money, but there is a close to point per game scorer on the market. Kane will likely take an NHL minimum deal or something close to it. On paper, the New Jersey Devils should be interested in that.
This is so far from an “on paper” transaction. Evander Kane is a mess. Like, he’s beyond an issue in the locker room. This isn’t the rumors about Taylor Hall before he came to New Jersey that were unfounded. Kane is legit an Antonio Brown-level distraction wherever he goes. It all started small, similar to Brown. He took a dumb picture holding a stack of cash during the NHL Lockout. He talked his way out of Winnipeg. He wasn’t a team player in Buffalo.
These were all small potatoes, and teams were willing to overlook his flaws because of his skills. Then, things started to escalate. This season, he has been suspended for submitting a fake vaccination card (where have we heard this before?), and now he’s facing multiple violations of COVID protocols.
This is just completely ignoring the messy divorce and the allegations coming out from that. He was accused by his soon-to-be ex-wife of gambling on his own games. He played well enough to show he wasn’t shaving points off, but those allegations exist. That’s not the really serious one. The reason the Devils should steer clear of this guy is the investigation into sexual assault and domestic violence allegations.
Those are very serious allegations. The Hockey News breaks down what is being alleged here.
If Kane is going to rehabilitate his image, he needs to do it on a team that just holds him down and forces him to focus on hockey. He needs to be in a city where he can’t get in trouble. The situation has to be rock solid, and that’s if we’re even considering second chances here. Maybe Kane needs to take a year off. Sometimes a player needs to remember he’s a person, and even if all of the allegations coming out during his divorce aren’t true, there is a reason he is making constant mistakes in his personal life that are impacting his professional life.
This is a problem the Devils should stay far away from. There is no reason to get into the Evander Kane “Sweepstakes”.