Evander Kane’s name has never come with a shortage of baggage, and now another former teammate has taken a hard swing at the winger’s reputation.
On a recent episode of the San Jose Hockey Now podcast with Sheng Peng, former Shark Kurtis Gabriel tore into Kane and described him as a difficult presence in the locker room during the 2020-21 season, Kane’s final year in San Jose. Gabriel called him a terrible teammate and said the issues ran deep.
“Every meeting, Evander Kane shows up late… we start the meeting, the door clicks open, here comes Evander, in his flip flops, in his tracksuit when we’re in suit and tie.”
Gabriel didn’t stop there. He said Kane behaved like a bully, added that Kane was hurting, and said he often went at him directly. His bluntest assessment came when he tried to explain the behavior behind the talent.
“It’s disgusting to me that a player can be talented and do that routinely, and still have a job… You can’t handle pure narcissism, and pure narcissism comes from pure insecurity.”
Peng followed that up by saying he had never seen a player who was so effective on the ice and so unwanted by his own leadership group at the same time.
The timing of the criticism lands with Kane in a very different place than he was a few years ago. His run in Edmonton was the stretch that restored his image.
After the legal fight over his contract termination and the messy exits that came before it, Kane resurfaced with the Oilers and became a positive presence. He was well-liked in the room, active in the community, and embraced by the fanbase.
That version didn’t carry over to Vancouver.
Kane’s move to the Canucks, a chance to play for his hometown team, never got going. Vancouver struggled badly, his season never really found traction, and he skipped postseason media availability entirely. The separation felt immediate.
Even now, there’s still enough on-ice value for teams to look. Kane is 35, coming off a 13-goal, 31-point season on a brutal Canucks team, and he still brings physicality and edge, even if the penalties remain a problem.
But the margin for error is shrinking. Stories like Gabriel’s don’t help, and for a player in Kane’s stage of his career, every new piece of noise makes the decision harder.
NHL general managers can live with a lot when the production is loud enough to cover it. Kane’s game still matters, but it no longer drowns everything else out.
Edmonton, where he fit best, doesn’t appear to be waiting. The Oilers’ roster is crowded, and Kane no longer fits neatly into a top-six role. A bottom-six spot doesn’t make sense either.
He’ll likely get another shot somewhere, whether that comes as a PTO or a short-term contract. But the pattern has followed him for years now, and each fresh reminder of the old problems only sharpens the same question: is the talent still enough to outweigh the rest?
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