Can you believe all the nothing that鈥檚 happening?
I鈥檓 not going to lie: it鈥檚 difficult to write about hockey when there鈥檚 no hockey happening. In the dog days of the off-season, when there isn鈥檛 even anything hockey-related happening, it鈥檚 even harder. During the lockout a few years back, it got so bad that I ended up writing and .
Things haven鈥檛 gone that far off the rails this off-season, but all the Canucks talk this week has been dominated by a player that isn鈥檛 even a Canuck: Evander Kane.
Kane isn鈥檛 even rumoured to be on his way out of Buffalo. None of the reporters talking about Kane say they have sources suggesting the Sabres want to trade him; they鈥檙e just assuming they do.
Sure, it seems like a safe assumption. All of the assorted sordid rumours surrounding Kane have culminated in actual, legitimate legal trouble, as he turned himself into police last week in connection with charges from an incident at a Buffalo bar in June. Why wouldn鈥檛 the Sabres want to rid themselves of such a headache?
But it鈥檚 still an assumption. All sorts of teams put up with all sorts of things and Evander Kane is still the best goalscorer the Sabres have. Does it say something about our society that we鈥檙e willing to excuse almost anything as long as a person can play sports well? Probably.
In any case, all the articles wondering where Kane will get traded to are built on an assumption and articles about whether the Canucks specifically will trade for him are built on another assumption: that the Canucks want him.
Ben Kuzma and it鈥檚 understandable why: Kane scores goals; the Canucks don鈥檛.
(There is also another assumption common to all of these articles: that Kane is guilty of something and needs to make a drastic change or his career or possibly even his life is in jeopardy)
There鈥檚 nothing wrong with idle speculation, as long as it鈥檚 clear that鈥檚 all it is. The Canucks may or may not be interested in Kane. Personally, I doubt they鈥檙e too interested. We鈥檙e talking about an organization that got upset when Jake Virtanen hung out with Justin Bieber for one night. The Canucks are deathly allergic to swagger, even in its most mild, most Bieberish form.
But to save you the trouble of reading more and more idle speculation, here are the pros and cons of acquiring Kane:
- Pro: Evander Kane is good at hockey.
- Con: He鈥檚 facing off-ice legal issues and has been accused of sexual assault.
- Pro: Innocent until proven guilty.
- Con: Where there鈥檚 smoke, there鈥檚 fire.
- Pro: But seriously, he鈥檚 good at hockey.
- Con: But seriously, being good at hockey is significantly less serious than assault and harassment.
- Pro: Playing in his hometown with his family nearby will keep him on the straight and narrow.
- Con: Playing in his hometown will place him under extra scrutiny and he might crack under the pressure.
- Pro: He鈥檒l be cheap to acquire because of his off-ice issues.
- Con: Kane鈥檚 off-ice issues didn鈥檛 suddenly turn Tim Murray into an idiot. He鈥檚 not going to trade Kane for Luca Sbisa.
Basically, we have no idea if it would be a good idea for the Canucks to trade for Kane. We have no idea if they even want to trade for Kane. Heck, we have no idea if the Sabres want to trade Kane. We have no idea if he鈥檚 guilty or innocent of his charges. We have no idea in general.
Can we please stop pretending like we have an idea?
听
