It was revealed tonight that Edmonton forward Evander Kane received a one-game ban for pushing Avalanche forward Nazim Qadri on board, injuring him and becoming the most hated man of the State of Colorado.
“Evander Kane is suspended until the end of the playoffs,” I wrote on my telegram channel, hinting that Edmonton is on fire with an 0-3 score in the Avalanche series and the next game could be the last.
Nevertheless, Kane’s story is a vivid example of how a man managed to relaunch his career and was able to reach a new level.
thirty-three woes
Evander Kane, 30, was considered an NHL star until something went wrong in his life.
In terms of hockey, he was highly cited. Athletic striker (188 cm / 96 kg), selected by Atlanta fourth in the draft. He skilfully distributed power moves and showed good level. So, in the 2018-19 season, he scored 56 (30+26) points for San Jose with 153 penalty minutes. And before that, on May 24, 2018, Evander signed a seven-year contract with the Sharks for $49 million.
Another thing is how Kane handled himself off the ice.
On July 1, 2016, he was sued by a 21-year-old woman who accused Evander of assaulting her in a hotel room. According to court documents, the girl claimed Kane “met her at a bar, invited her to a party, then attacked her, inflicting cuts on her that required multiple operations.”
On August 1, 2016, Kane fought another story while playing for the Buffalo Sabers and in June he broke into the Bottoms Up bar, where he fought with four patrons, as well as a bouncer after he allegedly grabbed a woman by the throat and tried to push her into the car.
On November 4, 2019, Kane was sued by The Cosmopolitan casino in Las Vegas after avoiding a half-million dollar gambling debt. When San Jose came to Nevada for a series with Vegas, Evander borrowed 500,000 greenbacks in chips, completely lost, and that type of loan went unpaid.
On January 11, 2021, it was reported that Kane had filed for bankruptcy after going into debt of $26.8 million.
In July last year, an epic began with his ex-wife, Anna Kane, who began attacking Evander via social media. She publicly accused Kane of betting on games involving San Jose. The NHL announced it would investigate, but Evander later denied all of this and suggested his wife’s statements were motivated by feelings associated with their divorce process.
In a later interview, he admitted he had a gambling addiction, which put him in debt, and he sought help from professional psychologists.
On September 22, 2021, the NHL released the results of the investigation and found no evidence on gambling rates: “We doubt these allegations are true.”
In September 2021, Anna Kane accuses her ex-husband of sexual violence and numerous cases of beatings in the family. Evander’s lawyer denied that his client abused her and their daughter Kensington. On the other hand, Evander himself began to claim that in the past his wife herself had used physical violence against him.
But on October 5, it emerged that the NHL was investigating reports that Kane had submitted a fake covid vaccine certificate. And then, two weeks later, the league suspended Kane for 21 games – this is a very important subject for the NHL, where the championship was even suspended because of covid. On January 8, 2022, San Jose sent Kane to an unconditional draft with the intention of terminating his contract.
Kane switched agents and won his wife’s child
The light at the end of the tunnel appeared for Kane on November 28, 2021, when he began cooperating with agent Dan Milstein. Previously, Evander’s interests were represented by Newport’s agency, but the hockey player himself called Milstein and offered himself as a client. I needed to change something in my life.
The first major success was that in the Democratic state of California, Kane won a lawsuit for full custody of his daughter Kensington and Anna was stripped of her maternal rights.
There was a real war for the kid so Anna posted about Kane’s fake covid certificate. She also released information that Evander is betting on San Jose games.
In fact, the Sharks were trying to catch Kane in the bets. If his contract had been terminated, the club would have saved 28 million dollars, but San Jose found nothing against his player, who scored 49 (22+27) points in 56 matches and was almost the best in the crew. Moreover, the boss of the team is a great computer scientist. All databases were searched, but nothing bad was found on bidder Kane.
On another occasion, his wife Anna posted a photo of Evander with guns on social media. But it was possible to prove that it was staged, and the Kane couple took part in a model photo shoot at home.
At the same time, Anna appeared in court and everywhere said that she needed money for life and for the maintenance of an unborn child. She came with a belly that grew every month. But they managed to gather all the documents, insurance policies and discovered that in July 2021 the ex-wife had an abortion using Kane’s insurance. And she wasn’t pregnant, and her belly was fake, consignment note.
This was the decisive moment, after which the child was entrusted to Evander, and his wife was recommended for treatment with a psychotherapist. Although Anna continues to annoy Kane so far. So when Colorado took a 3-0 series lead with Edmonton, she put panicle gifs in the stories, alluding to sweeping – “sweeping”, as they say when you lose a dry streak (0 -4).
“Edmonton” head coach organized 10 years of camp in Russia for Datsyuk
Now Agent Milstein and Kane are counting to court with the involvement of the NHL Players Union to receive money from San Jose for the remainder of the contract, which they unilaterally terminated. This problem is not yet closed.
After becoming a free agent, Evander began considering offers from teams. Alexander Ovechkin called him personally and called Kane to Washington, who was very interested in strengthening the first two offensive ties. In the playoffs, we could well see the three Ovechkin – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Kane.
Other clubs were also interested, there were a lot of calls, a chance to go to the New York Rangers. Everything was reminiscent of Santa Barbara. At one point Kane decided he had to go to Vegas, but there at the club they decided, “We don’t need such a shake-up now.” In the end, they didn’t make the playoffs.
Edmonton general manager Ken Holland was also interested in Kane, and Connor McDavid called Evander as well. The Oilers’ Achilles’ heel is the lack of depth in the roster with two big stars, McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
On January 27, 2022, Kane signed a one-year, $1.375 million contract with Edmonton, bearing in mind that the money from his previous deal with San Jose could still be salvaged.
Evander picked the Oilers himself because when there’s a chance to play in a three with Connor McDavid, you can’t miss it. When the Edmonton came to Vancouver for an away trip, Kane flew in. He spent three hours with Holland, former head coach Dave Tippett and McDavid.
This meeting became decisive. A few weeks later, the Oilers changed their head coach, Jay Woodcroft came to this position.
Who is he? You know his older brother Craig Woodcroft, he coaches the Belarus national team and Dynamo Minsk. His middle brother, Todd Woodcroft, won the Stanley Cup with Los Angeles as a scout, he also worked for the Belarusians with Craig, was a staff member for the Winnipeg Jets in recent years and until recently managed the team from the University of Vermont.
Jay Woodcroft worked as a video coach for the Detroit Red Wings from 2005 to 2008, where he met Datsyuk. For 10 years in a row he came to Russia, held summer camps with Pavel. And in St. Petersburg he spent them and constantly traveled to Yekaterinburg – to the village of Kurganovo, where the training camp took place. In general, Jay is very fond of Russia and knows our players well – the same Anatoly Golyshev grew up before his eyes, as well as other hockey players.
Jay Woodcroft won the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2008 before moving to San Jose as an assistant coach. And since 2015, he began working in the Edmonton system, first as an assistant to the bench of the Oilers, and since 2018, at the head of the agricultural club Bakersfield Condors. And on February 10, 2022, he went on promotion.
Now Kane has a new life
The deal for Edmonton turned out to be brilliant. They received a forward who can play for $10 million for $1.375 million. In the regular season, Kane scored 39 (22+17) points in 43 games. And in the playoffs, he entered the charts more than one point per game (13 + 4 = 17 to 15), after achieving two hat-tricks.
On the other hand, it’s easy to explain when you play in the same line with McDavid and Draisaitl.
And after? It will be extremely difficult for Edmonton to save the series with Colorado, in which they are inferior at 0-3.
It is quite possible that Kane will not play again this season. He will become an unrestricted free agent. And then he will decide where to pursue his career.
You can stay in Edmonton, although there are questions about payment there. But there are times when it is better to take a slightly lower salary, but enjoy hockey and play with superstars.
Well, maybe Kane will move to another club. In any case, he matured, revived his career in exemplary fashion, became a favorite of Edmonton fans and regained his place in the NHL.
Previously, managers were put off by the reputation of Evander, of whom they would say, “We know the big Kane from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. But we’re not ready to deal with Kane after 11:00 p.m.
Simply put, on the ice Kane was good, but off the ice he didn’t always behave roughly. His ex-wife, with money from Kane himself, started a whole PR machine against the ex-husband.
Today it seems that many problems are behind and before Kane – a new life.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
