You’ve got to hand it to Evander Kane. The guy has a knack for drawing attention, even when he’s nowhere near a hockey rink.

Some 30 Winnipeg Jets prospects are being poked and prodded at the team’s development camp here this week, yet Kane managed to overshadow the proceedings by doing a little poking of his own at a golf course in Vancouver.

Every now and then, No. 9 makes it obvious he wants out of Winnipeg, without actually coming out and saying it.

The latest example came on a Vancouver radio station, during a charity golf outing in his hometown.

Asked if he wanted to play for the organization anymore, Kane would only say he was a Jet right now, acknowledging the trade rumors that have dogged him.

And then this: “We'll see what happens and we'll carry on as if I'm a Winnipeg Jet.”

More than 1,000 miles to the east, members of the Jets brass were wincing yet again.

They’ve had to answer for Kane before, most recently at the NHL draft in Philadelphia, when whoever was manning Kane’s Twitter account highlighted a tweet suggesting the Flyers deal for him.

Memo to Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff: prepare your non-answer for Friday, your next scheduled meeting with the media.

Cheveldayoff’s last response to whether Kane has asked for a trade: “These kinds of questions are really unfair,” he scolded at the draft.

Yeah, well, the happiness, or lack thereof, of a star player tends to matter.

Back at development camp, where some 30 teenagers would like nothing better than to play hockey in our city for a few million dollars, a man who’s been there and done it long before Kane had his own opinion.

Like Kane, Dale Hawerchuk was a big-city kid forced in 1981 to ply his trade in the land of the Golden Boy, the Mr. Big Nip and the mosquito.

After a year or so of getting to know the place, he settled right in, living here year-round for some eight years.

“I loved coming here as an 18-year-old,” Hawerchuk, a guest coach for the Jets this week, said, Wednesday. “There was nothing better than knowing as an NHL player here, no matter where you walked in this city, people are going to know who you are.

“So you better be proud of your accomplishments. That should push people.”

It seems to push Kane away.

“As an organization you do your best to get your players to love it,” Hawerchuk said. “My short time being around (today’s Jets), they do everything first-class. So I don’t know why players wouldn’t love it.”

A native of Toronto, Hawerchuk acknowledges there’s more media pressure in Canadian NHL cities.

“Just stay focused on what you’re doing,” he said. “As media you do your jobs and as players you’ve got to do your job.”

I realize comparing the 1980s to today may be like comparing apples and oranges. But it’s still fruit.

In Hawerchuk’s day, it wasn’t uncommon for players to live here all summer.

The bond those players formed on the golf course and at the lake helped create some pretty good teams.

“There were a few guys that would come in and never gave it a chance,” Hawerchuk recalled. “It was like, too bad for you. You might have 10, 12 players who lived here, year-round. That landscape’s changed a bit, but it doesn’t mean it won’t change as the team gets its roots going here, again.”

Hawerchuk figures there’s one young Jet who’ll fit right in: his former centre, Mark Scheifele.

“He’s got a graet attitude, and he’s a perfect fit for Winnipeg. I wouldn’t be surprised if he adopts Winnipeg as home, permanently, at some time.”

Like his old junior coach did.

I’m not saying today’s players have to live here.

But if they don’t want to play here, they should come out and say it, the GM should accommodate them and everybody can stop dancing around the issue and move on.

paul.friesen@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @friesensunmedia