Just say no to Evander Kane

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen reports something that creeps me out today:

The Detroit Red Wings are among a handful of NHL teams scouting Evander Kane as he makes his season debut with the San Jose Barracuda.

Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng confirmed that Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Nashville Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars are on the press box list.

The Sharks are exploding trade options for Evander Kane. He was suspended 21 games by the NHL for presenting a fake vaccination card. He’s in the AHL to get his game back in shape. Kane’s off-ice behavior was the subject of multiple media reports in the offseason. As a result, some of Kane’s Sharks’ teammates didn’t want him back on the team.

I don’t care about Kane’s bankruptcy, bitter divorce proceedings, or his stupid decision to fake a vaccination card. I don’t care about the rumors of gambling issues or any other of the long list’s worth of character issues that have followed the 30-year-old forward around.

I care about the fact that it wasn’t just the players in Winnipeg that couldn’t stand him (and he was treated really unfairly there); I know that the people of Winnipeg hated the guy, and it takes a lot for the people of Winnipeg to really disown a player. Kane was utterly disliked in Winnipeg, and that’s as terrible a stamp on his status as anything else…

That, and ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported this about Kane a couple of days ago:

I’m told there’s already a decent amount of interest in Kane, and right now, the interested teams are looking for a third-party team to act as “broker” to help retain some of his salary ($7 million). San Jose is willing to retain some salary, but if it gets even lower — imagine Kane, who has averaged 28 goals per season over his 12-year career, at a $1.75 million cap hit — the list of interested teams grows even longer. However, it’s going to take a team that believes it has a strong locker room culture to bring Kane in.

Kane, I’m told, is interested in playing for a contender and has a ton of agency given he has a three-team trade list. The best-case scenario for Kane is getting bought out by the Sharks and being able to choose his next destination, but I don’t think the Sharks have broached buyout talks with him yet. Those discussions would likely happen this summer.

Any other team that’s a contender can take him. Hell, the Ak Bars Kazan can take him. But I don’t want Evander Kane on the Red Wings.

Send him to Toronto.