San Jose Sharks winger Evander Kane is the subject of a multi-million dollar lawsuit claiming some pretty outrageous charges, if true.
Evander Kane has brought some pretty unwanted headlines to the San Jose Sharks. According to a report by TMZ, Kane is being sued by an unnamed woman claiming he offered her three million dollars to get an abortion, and subsequently refused to pay her.
According to Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News, Kane and his lawyer vehemently deny this claim, stating that the lawsuit against him is unequivocally false.
"“We’ve received notice of the filing of a lawsuit by someone referred to as Jane Doe alleging a breach of contract against Evander Kane. We firmly believe that this lawsuit is baseless both factually and legally,” Cambria Jr. said. “We will aggressively defend this claim in court on Evander’s behalf and assert all applicable counterclaims.”"
Honestly, its hard not to believe the woman in this case. Due to Kane’s off the field past especially surrounding women, you’d have to put two and two together here. If it walks like a duck…This isn’t a good look for Kane or for the San Jose Sharks. As they knew Kane’s past when they traded a first round pick for him and when they handed him a 7 year 49 Million Dollar contract in the offseason.
This isn’t a suspendable offense, as this is a civil suit and not a criminal investigation. And what he did isn’t really a crime? At least it isn’t being treated as one as of right now. But its just another example of Kane’s abhorrent behavior towards women. I’m sure the San Jose Sharks and the NHL will continue to monitor this situation, but I don’t see any punishment from the team or from the league coming out of this.
You have to try to give people the benefit of the doubt. And there is a small part of me that wants to here. But you also have to look at patterns of behavior and Kane has a long, long list of off the ice transgressions, specifically against women. And it’s hard not to believe whoever this woman is in this case.
And, look, false claims DO happen. We saw it recently with Reuben Foster of the San Francisco 49ers. You have to wait and see how things play out in court before one goes and makes assumptions when we don’t know all of the facts of the case. HOWEVER. I’m of the belief that where there is smoke, there’s fire. Evander Kane has a list of incidents against him that lead me to believe this is true. But, there always the benefit of the doubt.
Kane has been on his best behavior since he joined the San Jose Sharks. He’s been a great teammate and you haven’t heard much from him off the ice. People thought he’d turned a corner and again, who knows what is true and what isn’t, but this certainly is a bad look for a guy with a checkered past. Its also not the best look for the San Jose Sharks who gave him nearly 50 million dollars.
The NHL, and the team, and all of us in the media, I’m sure will continue to monitor this situation but its just too bad that we’re seeing this kind of behavior again from Kane. I, for one, BELIEVE HER.