The Evander Kane saga in San Jose is finally finished, as his grievance filed by the NHL Players’ Association has been settled and the league has approved the terms between the winger and the club.
“The San Jose Sharks have reached an agreement with Evander Kane regarding the termination of his NHL Standard Player Contract,” reads the team’s statement, released on Friday morning. “The agreement has been approved by the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association. We are satisfied that its terms will not adversely impact the team, either financially or competitively, in this or future seasons.”
It’s been a long year, kicked off last off-season with an investigation into the winger for a number of claims, including domestic violence, throwing and betting on NHL games and providing false vaccination documentation to the league. Of those allegations, the NHL found Kane’s vaccination status to be fraudulent, levying a 21-game suspension against Kane for the violation.
Upon his return from suspension, he was assigned to the American Hockey League’s San Jose Barracuda, where he further violated the COVID-19 Protocol by traveling to Vancouver in December. This allowed the Sharks to terminate his contract, making Kane a free agent. He signed with the Edmonton Oilers in January.
The NHLPA filed a grievance against the Sharks when an NHL investigation did not conclusively prove that he “knowingly made misrepresentations regarding his COVID-19 status or test results in connection with his international travel.” That said, travel across the Canadian border at the time was still limited and the AHL had policies in place regarding travel. It was unlikely that the NHLPA would be successful in finding the Sharks without cause for termination.
The agreement between the two is expected to be a multi-million dollar deal, and will be applied retroactively to the Sharks’ 2021-22 season cap hit, per ESPN. Kane signed a four-year contract extension in Edmonton this summer, totaling $20.5 million, with $16.5 million in the final three years. The remainder of his contract with the Sharks was three years at $19 million. The deal will likely bridge that $2.5 million gap.
Kane’s contract with Edmonton runs through the 2025-26 season and carries a full no-movement clause, and a modified no-trade clause in the final year. If he finishes the contract out with the club, it will be the longest he’s stayed with one team in his career.