Evander Kane isn't scheduled to visit Winnipeg until January, but he's already provided some added pop to his first potential game here as a member of the Buffalo Sabres.

In an interview with The Hockey News, which went public Monday, Kane says he didn't get the support he should have from the Jets while playing through injuries last season.

“I’m sacrificing my body playing through pain, doing everything I can to help that team win... knowing guys don’t have my back,” Kane told THN. “I feel the organization doesn’t have my back, and you feel unappreciated."

Kane played with an injured shoulder and with broken bones in his foot and hand last season.

“He played through an awful lot of pain,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said in response. “We really appreciated it. I'm sorry he felt that way. I certainly appreciated him playing through those injuries.”

Kane also told the publication the team wasn't supportive enough when unsubstantiated rumours about unpaid restaurant bills circulated early in his time in Winnipeg, adding he asked for a trade every summer.

“I just didn't feel as though (the team) had my back at all,” Kane said. “It would have been so simple to just squash it and put it to bed.”

While acknowledging his actions on social media probably didn't help at times – Kane posed with a wad of cash on a Las Vegas balcony during the 2012-13 lockout -- Kane intimated that his race played a role in the way he was treated as a Jet.

“There are a lot of guys I could point to... who have done a lot worse or been accused of doing a lot worse things than I have. But they don’t look like me.

“Jealousy is a disease. It really is.”

Kane suffered a knee injury Sunday and is out four to six weeks.

His Sabres visit the Jets, Jan. 10.