SAN JOSE – The Sharks opened their training camp without Evander Kane on Thursday and as the polarizing forward faces another round of disturbing allegations, it remained unclear as to whether he would ever be back with the team.
Although it cleared Kane of any wrongdoing in its gambling investigation, the NHL announced Wednesday it was opening another inquiry into the Sharks winger after additional unrelated allegations involving potential misconduct by Kane “have been brought to our attention.”
Earlier this week, Kane’s estranged wife, Anna Kane, filed a restraining order application in Santa Clara County Family Court that included accusations that she had been physically and sexually assaulted by the longtime NHL player.
After the league’s announcement, the Sharks said they had mutually agreed with Kane that he would not be a participant in training camp for the time being.
Sharks general manager Doug Wilson couldn’t say whether he would welcome Kane back to the team, stating that he would let the NHL’s latest investigation play out.
“When you’re making a decision of any nature, you want to have as much information as possible,” Wilson said, “and that’s the situation where we’re at right now.”
Among the allegations made by Anna Kane, in documents filed on Tuesday, was that her husband forced her to have sex shortly after the funeral for their stillborn daughter. When she protested his abuse after a later incident, Anna Kane’s application for a restraining order states, Evander Kane responded, “You can’t rape your wife.”
In yet another confrontation, she said, he struck his infant daughter while trying to punch Anna Kane, who was feeding the child.
Wednesday, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office comment on the possibility of prosecuting Kane, but he could still face severe discipline from the NHL, which does not have a defined domestic violence policy but takes each incident on a case-by-case basis.
The NHL in Oct. 2014 suspended former Los Angeles Kings player Slava Voynov indefinitely after he was arrested and accused of domestic abuse of his wife. Voynov pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor but had the conviction dismissed by a judge in Los Angeles.
Still, Voynov, a Russian citizen, hasn’t played in the NHL since. Kane, if the most recent allegations are found to be true, could go down that same path.
It is unclear how long the NHL’s investigation into Kane will last and whether it will spill into the start of the regular season. The Sharks’ first game is Oct. 16 at home against the Winnipeg Jets.
“The focus has to be on our group here, the guys that are here today and the things that we can control,” Wilson said. “But also respect the process of going through dealing with some very serious allegations and some things that need to be addressed with the right process.”
Reports surfaced this summer that friction had built up between Kane and his teammates throughout last season, to the point where some Sharks players expressed to management that they no longer wanted Kane on the team.
Their frustration stemmed from Kane’s perceived overall lax attitude toward team rules, including being late for practices and games and the players’ dress code.
Players came to Wilson to express their displeasure about Kane’s conduct but reportedly were dissatisfied at the time with his response.
The Sharks had arguably the most unusual season of any NHL team in 2020-2021, as they were forced to hold their training camp in Scottsdale, Arizona, and play their first 12 games away from home. As a result, some team rules, such a dress code for road games, were relaxed.
“There’s no doubt when you have team rules, they have to be enforced by the head coach and by the general manager,” Wilson said. ”I think we’ve all established the fact that as we return to some level of normalcy that it allows you to have complete clarity on what’s acceptable and what’s not, and that applies to everybody.”
Sharks coach Bob Boughner said that everyone could have been held to a higher standard in terms of their preparation and work ethic. Wilson and Boughner spoke with the team Wednesday night at SAP Center.
“I think we learned a lot about ourselves in the last year,” Boughner said. “There’s definitely a culture that we hold ourselves accountable to, and a standard how we want to act as a team and a family.
“When we got away from that last year — I said this in my remarks (Wednesday) — you can see it on your faces, you can see it in practice, you can see it in a game and you can see it ultimately on the scoreboard, and that’s not negotiable. We’ve got to make sure that going forward. It’s my job, it’s our organization’s job that we hold everybody to a certain standard, and not let that slip one day.”
