By

During a Tuesday morning appearance on Montreal’s TSN 690, the subject of Buffalo Sabres forward Evander Kane’s legal issues was broached with NHL Insider Darren Dreger.

Specifically, Dreger was asked if from what he’s hearing around the league, if Kane is someone that GMs, coaches, and even players think will be able to turn over a new leaf “and shed the reputation he’s rightfully earned here.”

“Well, there’s always hope, right?” began Dreger. “Look, Tim Murray and the Buffalo Sabres don’t make that mammoth deal with the Winnipeg Jets if they know that they’re getting a player who isn’t going to be able to keep his nose clean off the ice. They know what they’re hoping to get in the player on the ice, and that’s potentially a star player. But you can’t have all of this extra nonsense that continues to go along with him.

“I would say that a good portion of it is not deserved; but because of his reputation, this kind of thing is going to plague him. It’s going to follow him. He’s become a poster boy in terms of the NHL bad boy club. Not unlike Sean Avery back in the day. Wherever Sean Avery went, there was always somebody looking. ‘Oh geez, there’s Sean Avery. Let’s see if we can poke the bear here a little bit.’

“I’m not making excuses for Evander Kane. Probably a great deal of what he’s been accused of he’s partly responsible for anyway. Not all of it though. And because of that, there’s always going to be something that seems to plague this guy. But he does need to a season, two seasons, five seasons of just staying out of the headlines for anything other than what he’s doing on the ice.

“But as long as he continues to be an impactful player and stays healthy on the ice, then there’s going to be that team, that general manager, that’s willing to take a chance on him if Buffalo gets to the point where they’ve had enough.”

Dreger was then asked what sort of measures the Sabres could conceivably take to help Kane stay out of trouble, including counseling, and if hiring someone to keep an eye on Kane would be crazy to suggest.

“Again, I’m not making a comparison here, I’m just going to throw a scenario out at you,” said Dreger. “You guys are aware of the many chapters that Theoren Fleury had to get through before he finally got to a place beyond hockey where he’s found his way, and he continues to do good work to try and help others. But there was a time, either in – was it in Chicago, Columbus – where they had hired somebody to basically chaperone him.

“I don’t know that the Buffalo Sabres are anywhere near that place with Evander Kane, and I don’t know that there needs to be that sort of support. But what I know is this – that the Buffalo Sabres would give him and will give him every – every –ability, every ounce of support that is available, if he’s willing to accept it. There’s a level of maturity here that has to be observed as well. And if he’s not willing at this stage to take responsibility for his actions on and off the ice, then it’s going to be real tough for any NHL team to manage him beyond that.

“So let’s see if the player has changed, and if he has off the ice, then maybe we’re not talking about this next year.”

Source: TSN 690/ Transcript: Nichols

Dreger: ‘He’s become a poster boy in terms of the NHL bad boy club’