NHL Rumors: Sharks players want Evander Kane traded; and Rangers GM Chris Drury denies Jack Eichel interest
Anthony Scultore
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The calls for the San Jose Sharks to trade Evander Kane seem to be growing. Despite recent gambling allegations, the main reason for moving Kane is coming from within the locker-room.
Kevin Kurz of The Athletic notes in a recent article that a number of Sharks players went to GM Doug Wilson last season to requesting that he be moved.
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NHL Rumors: Evander Kane
So just how bad is it in San Jose? According to Kurz, a source indicated that some players went into Wilson’s office and to trade Kane or move them instead.
“Guys were going into Doug’s office all year long,” according to one source, “saying Kane had to go. … All Doug would say is, ‘All teams have locker-room issues,’ which just isn’t true. Not the teams that win, anyway.”
The Athletic
The Hockey News also did a piece on how difficult Kane’s attitude is to deal with in the locker-room. Apparently the chip on his shoulder on the ice is persistent at all times, and that rubs some of his teammates the wrong way.
One of my clients on the Sharks just hates him, hates the negative energy he brings into the room,” another agent, also claiming anonymity, told THN.com. “Only (Kane) can change that, but he may have gone too far (with the current allegations). Some guys think that they’re bigger than the team, and I guess that helps drive (Kane) on a personal basis, but in the team construct, it doesn’t play well at all.”
The Hockey News
Here’s the biggest problem for the Sharks, now that Kane is under investigation by the league trading him will be near impossible.
The 29 year-old Kane is entering the fourth season of a seven-year, $49 million deal. He recorded 49 points (22 goals, 27 assists) in 56 games and an average of 20 minutes, 12 seconds of time on ice. His plus-minus rating for the season was minus-1.
GM Chris Drury doesn’t understand why Rangers linked to Jack Eichel
After almost a year of some of the top insiders linking the Rangers to Jack Eichel, GM Chris Drury is telling agents he doesn’t understand why this is the case.
Forget Bob McKenzie, Elliotte Friedman, Darren Dreger, and Pierre LeBrun who have reported that the Rangers were not only interested but placed calls and even made an offer. Drury says it’s all hogwash.
The latest on Jack Eichel consists of no more than the ongoing blizzard of contradictory tales and innuendo posted on social media, some of which has come from the account of an MSG-Network analyst who is friendly with Drury. The Post reported via Twitter on Friday that the GM last week had been telling agents that he had never expressed serious interest in trading for Buffalo’s disaffected center and could not understand why the Rangers have been consistently linked to Eichel.
NY Post
Of course, this is the way contract and trade negotiations are played. Where information changes from day-to-day and even hour-to-hour. Maybe Drury’s front office is not interested in Eichel, or maybe he’s close to a trade and wants to minimize their desire to acquire him via the media.
Your guess is as good as mine.