The Winnipeg Free Press's Gary Lawless has been on top of the Evander Kane saga since its outset, and this morning, Lawless suggests that the Winnipeg Jets' season sits at a crossroads (if not on a long Manitoba train track) thanks to the actions of not only Dustin Byfuglien, but also the Jets' captain, Andrew Ladd, its coach, Paul Maurice, and to some extent, GM Kevin Cheveldayoff:

Let’s review: Kane shows up for a team meeting in sweats. Byfuglien determines this isn’t good enough and tosses his teammates gear into a shower or a cold tub. Kane’s belongings are soaked and his pride and very likely his heart are damaged. He’s been humiliated by one of his big brothers. By one of the men he’s lived and worked with going on six years. Maybe there was a time when this manner of sending a message was accepted and worked, but no longer. It just made a mess.

Ladd is the captain of this room and anything that happens behind those closed doors is his responsibility. He needs to have his finger on the pulse of things. If he stood by and let Byfuglien commit this act — it’s on him. If he missed and then couldn’t or wouldn’t solve the issue before it blew up as it has — again it’s on him.

Same goes for Maurice. This coach likes to say he lets the players run the room. Fine. But at some point in time Tuesday when this was playing out, Maurice had to determine his influence was needed. He’s lost a player. A skilled and productive forward on a team that just can’t afford to move on without a suitable replacement.

If Kane is indeed done with the Jets and Cheveldayoff can’t put together a deal to replace him, it’s hard to imagine this ending well for Winnipeg.

Lawless continues, and he does an excellent job of reminding us that whatever happened, a young man got treated like a child thanks to teammates who were equally "in the wrong" by going "old-school" on him, and the coach and GM are also culpable here...

And this is a situation that has less to do with a troubled player being an asshole than it has to do with a troubled player's behavior yielding, well, organizationally-approved, coach-approved, captain-approved and teammate-approved assholery.