Evander Kane (briefly) comments on Buffalo sex offense investigation

Evander Kane of the Buffalo Sabres took regular line rushes in Monday’s practice, with center Jack Eichel and right wing Tyler Ennis. This would lead one to believe that the Sabres will continue in the NHL tradition keeping players that are being investigated for sexual offenses in their lineups. 

The Buffalo News reported on Sunday that Kane, 24, was “the subject of a sex offense investigation by Buffalo police over an incident that allegedly occurred Sunday morning in a downtown hotel room near First Niagara Center.” Three sources confirmed that the subject of the investigation was Kane, although police didn’t identify him.

Kane, however, basically confirmed the news on Monday after practice, speaking to the media for 20 seconds, taking no questions and issuing this statement (via John Vogl):

“I just want to say I’ve done nothing wrong. I look forward to clearing my name.”

And that was that. No word if he appreciated the question.

Josh Cooper offered his take on the news last night on Puck Daddy.

There’s a lot to unpack here with Evander Kane and this case. We’re going to hear about race. We’re going to hear about Kane’s “reputation” back in Winnipeg, and the previous police investigation that resulted in a civil suit. But we’re mostly going to hear about how the police, the city, the media and hockey fans react to this news vs. how they reacted to that other Kane fellow’s sexual offense investigation, which regrettably splintered the hockey community.

Those battle lines appear to be drawn in permanent ink. I’ve already seen clarion calls for treating this Kane like that Kane, or why no one should do that; about the validity of the accusation; about the performance of the police, and the media; about the reaction from the NHL, or lack thereof, to these increasingly common incidents.

Yet just like with Patrick Kane, we have a potential victim in the Evander Kane situation whose well-being is far from top of mind for those already keenly observing this situation. You’d think after the fourth high-profile hockey player (along with Kane, Semyon Varlamov and Slava Voynov) to be investigated by police in three years, consideration for that potential victim would be the minimum expected.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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