Evander Kane showed up on his first day in the minor leagues with the San Jose Barracuda on Tuesday, focused on what it takes to get back into the NHL with the Sharks. The next day, his ex-wife Anna Kane posted a video on her Instagram account where she claims that the player pointed a loaded gun in her direction.
The seconds-long video shows Evander Kane walking through his garage, gun in hand. Briefly, he lifts it towards Anna Kane, before lowering her. It says “psychopath” at the bottom of the video.
An attorney for Evander Kane told TMZ that the video was “intentionally taken out of context” and was a new tactic to “defame Evander in the public eye.” The lawyer specifies that it was in fact a professional photoshoot in which the two had participated, in 2020.
“His conduct, unfortunately, did not change during the divorce,” the Kane clan said in a statement. Each time we hope that this will be the end, each time we hope to find peace. Each time, the accusations are unfounded. Evander hopes that Mme Kane will get the help she needs and ask to respect everyone’s privacy. ”
Media encounter
Kane’s 21-game suspension for presenting a fake COVID-19 vaccination card is over, and he’s trying to get back in shape with the San Jose Barracuda and prove he deserves another shot in the big league.
“I came in today, the same person, the same teammate, the same player that I was and everything went well,” Kane said on Tuesday. I think there has been a lot of false information being said. But I can only control how I act and what I do here. ”
Kane faced a litany of allegations in the offseason that led to this stint in the minors, including one where his wife accused him of betting on hockey games, including “losing games.” to earn money. ”
The league has opened an investigation into the accusations and has found no evidence of their veracity.
“It was really surprising to see,” he said. But I was sincerely not worried, because these accusations were clearly false. There were some motives behind it that didn’t make sense at the time. But it wasn’t something that kept me awake. It really wasn’t great to be associated with that at the time. But the league investigated me thoroughly and interviewed a bunch of different people. ”
Kane was cleared the day before training camp started, but never showed up at camp due to additional allegations by Anna Kane of physical and sexual abuse.
The league could not confirm the charges, but suspended Kane for the first 21 games when it determined he had presented false proof of vaccination.
Kane did not give details on these matters other than to say that he is now fully vaccinated.
The Sharks in no hurry
But the Sharks are in no rush to bring 30-year-old Kane back to the NHL, despite being their most consistent player last season, with 22 goals and 27 assists in 56 games.
The Athletic reported this summer that there was a disagreement between Kane and his teammates, many of whom don’t want him to return to the squad.
Kane said he thought it was wrong that there were issues with so many players, but he also said he hadn’t had any contact with his Sharks teammates and didn’t know if he was going to play for them again.
Kane is counting under the salary cap for $ 7 million per year until the 2024-25 season and has a modified no-trade clause that allows him to block a trade with all but three of the teams. between them.
He’s hired a new agent, Dan Milstein, in hopes of finding a deal that will get him back into the NHL quickly, but for now, he’ll be biding his time in the minors.
Barracuda coach Roy Sommer, who worked with Kane when he was on the Sharks staff in 2019-20, believes Kane will behave in the best possible way as he knows it could speed up his return to the team. NHL.
Sommer added that he is not concerned about the issues Kane may have had last season with his teammates and coaches.