from Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun,
It was history versus hockey.
And as reprehensible as Evander Kane’s history happens to be, the Edmonton Oilers couldn’t ignore his hockey.
When the Oilers caught their charter for the first game of a three-game road trip Saturday night in Montreal, the NHL’s serial offender with a rap sheet as long as their recent losing streaks, Kane, was expected to be on board. A new rest-of-the-season contract in hand and white away jersey in the equipment bags with his last name and No. 91 already stitched on the back.
Kane is not the type of person, his history suggests, that you’d want to touch with a 10-foot hockey stick. I’m well on the record on that.
In Winnipeg, Buffalo and San Jose, they’ve all said goodbye and good riddance. Having Kane playing on your hockey club sends all the wrong messages in terms of youth, women, community, sponsors and image.
But if you’ve just experienced the Drop of Doom from first-place overall to 20th place, Kane is exactly the kind of hockey player you want.
You’d think the priority would be to get a goalie, but …
To get a $7-million-per-season left winger to play with Connor McDavid for a signing bonus of just slightly more than $1 million US to complete the season, to general manager Ken Holland, the messed-up 30-year-old is just what the doctor ordered.
Holland is betting his head coach and leadership group can combine to pin him up against the dressing room wall like Mark Messier did with previous Glen Sather reclamation projects.
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