Tuesday: Obviously without commenting on any of his player’s personal financial issues, San Jose Sharks head coach Bob Boughner tells Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports “I don’t think we’re worried” about Kane’s availability this season, nor his ongoing bankruptcy case becoming a distraction. Boughner stated that Kane “seems ready to go” and that “I am assured that he will be here for the whole season.” Of course, the status quo could still change given the ongoing proceedings, but as of right now there does not appear be any risk of missed time. This would lend itself to the idea that Kane’s inclusion of his contractual rights in his bankruptcy filing was a required or otherwise strategic move and less of an actual threat.
Monday: In the middle of a wild and seemingly unrelated story pertaining to San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane, a small note in a legal document could have a major impact on the Sharks’ season. As detailed by The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan, Kane filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in federal court in San Jose on Monday, citing $26.8MM in dept. In detailing his income, a current seven-year, $49MM contact signed with San Jose in 2018, Kane issues this warning:
Debtor may terminate his contract and he may opt out of the season, as allowed under current rules, because of health concerns given the recent birth of his first child. Should he terminate his contract or opt out at a point in the season, Debtor will not receive his salary.
Now, Kane is not going to terminate his contract with the Sharks. The deadline to opt out of the season, which begins in just two days, was this past Saturday, January 9. However, if Kane’s decision to opt out is motivated by health concerns related to his family, there is already precedent that he will be allowed to do so. Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask opted out of the 2020 postseason after it had already began due to concerns over his own daughter’s health. Kane would not need to terminate his deal to get out of playing this season and that’s unlikely the outcome the Sharks would pursure anyway.
That of course does little to comfort Sharks fans. After a season in which San Jose struggled greatly despite a strong roster on paper, there was hope for a rebound this year. They now face the possibility that the player who was arguably their very best in 2019-20 could miss the new campaign. Kane led the Sharks with 26 goals and was second in total scoring with 47 points, all while missing six games due to injury. He was also the only effective trigger man on the power play, notching 14 power play goals of San Jose’s 33 total. Replacing that offense would be next to impossible for the Sharks. The physical Kane was also expected to pick up some of the slack in the checking game left behind by the departures of Brenden Dillon and Barclay Goodrow.
Kane clearly has more on his mind than the Sharks’ hopes for the season, what with a newborn daughter as well as a a bankruptcy case that cites gambling debts, civil lawsuits, and claims from upwards of 47 creditors. However, missing the season certainly won’t help the latter and in the long run won’t help the former. All involved are definitely hoping that the resolution to this whole situation involves Kane suiting up for the San Jose this season. His full participation in training camp as well as the unknown intricacies of what he was required to disclose in the bankruptcy filing lend hope that this will be the outcome, but the end result remains to be seen.
Sounds like a messy situation. Hopefully for everybody’s sake this can be resolved without too many headaches.
Lol. Good luck with that.
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy.
Remember when he would flash $100’s in leaked videos in Vegas?
Makes me wonder how you get $27 million in debt…
Or that brick of cash he was pretending was a phone?
Same night I think
Hard to feel bad for a guy $28million in debt with $45million in contract term remaining.
Been a while since I’ve seen a player mismanage his own money.
Orr,Johnson,Modano,all had “help” mismanaging,but this is self imposed.
Seems like he should opt-in and collect a check from the Sharks
This whole case might need more explanation: he’s filing for bankruptcy to escape debts. Then, he wants to collect his future earnings, clear of the debts.
I understand his lawyer’s only suggesting he might not play again as an argument to why he can not cover his debts. Too much is made here of whether he intends not to play again. He’s not walking away from a guaranteed contract, he just needs that to be a believable possibility to argue why he should be released from debt. This is a scheme, plain and simple, to escape debt. I have no idea if the court will believe it or play along, but obviously he’s not expecting to lose much by trying. If this isn’t explained in the media, I guess it’s because they don’t want to seem like they are attacking a players character. Probably a defamation suit would follow.
Thank you for explaining this, I was actually confused wondering why he opt out if he’s in debt. Your explanation answers that though.
San Jose Loan Sharks
Underrated comment
Bravo, comment of the day!
Looking into it a bit more and he deserves everything coming to him. 1.5 million last year alone in gambling debt. He probably clears 3.5-4 million year. Guys living way out of his means while also having his entire immediate family listed as dependants. He’s made terrible personal choices and is now trying to go through legal loopholes to get out of it. Hopefully he can’t get out of what’s owed and he figures his life out
He’s an idiot.
This just seem like a rich guy doing rich USA people stuff , making tons of money then running bills and trying anyway to get out of paying them . Sad but true