Toronto Maple Leafs Rumored to be Interested in Evander Kane

The Toronto Maple Leafs, like usual, have been linked to a recently available NHL player.

As is the case literally whenever a player is said to be available, the Toronto Maple Leafs are at the forefront of the news.

In the case of Evander Kane, Michael Traikos of the Toronto Sun is reporting that the Leafs are indeed interested.

I would say I am skeptical, at the very least.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Evander Kane

A 30 goal scorer who hits and fights and is worth upwards of $7 million dollars, available for free, and likely on a league-minimum on-year deal sounds too good to be true.

And it is, in fact, too good to be true.

Evander Kane is a walking soap opera.  I don’t know what is or isn’t true about the various accusations against him, only that he was definitely in trouble with the NHL for forging his vaccination status.

For a millionaire who has been given everything in life to not care about his fellow humans, or his country,  and refuse to do his part, by getting vaccinated, is unconscionable to me.  I think Tyler Bertuzzi is selfish and disgusting, but at least he didn’t lie about it.

While thousands of nurses and doctors are burned out over the entire world, and millions of people are dead, suffering, grieving etc., this millionaire wouldn’t do the bare minimum of what his country asked of him, and to make it worse, he lied about it.  I’d be fine if he never plays in the NHL again.

On top of this, he apparently violated the AHL Covid protocols as well. That is AFTER he already got in trouble for forging  a vaccine certificate.  I believe in giving people second chances, but he cleary has learned nothing and is not sorry.

I would pass on him just for the other rumours, but the actual stuff we know is too damning anyways.  In no way should the Leafs sign him, ever.

What could could possibly come from bringing him to the Toronto Maple Leafs?  Sure, his skill set is enticing, but the distractions alone make it not worth pursuing.  I can’t imagine a worse place to make a comeback for a disgraced NHL player than in the fishbowl that is Toronto.

Besides, the Leafs don’t need his help anyways.

Alex Kerfoot is currently living up to his potential and few teams in hockey are getting better results with any player.  Ilya Mikheyev is back and looking fine, while Michael Bunting is scoring at a first line rate.

Pierre Engvall is playing great, and on a healthy Leafs team, he’s probably stuck on the best fourth line in the NHL.

Even if Kane comes in and plays to his absolute best ability, he isn’t much of an upgrade on what the Leafs already have.  Kane to the Leafs is such an obvious non-starter that I frankly don’t even believe the rumour that the Leafs are interested.

Winning isn’t everything in sports.  How you win also matters. The Blue Jays made the right call when they let their closer go to Houston, even though it probably helped the Astros win.  The Leafs showed no interest in  the skilled but unlikable Tony DeAngelo, and they shouldn’t have any interest in Kane.