- Kurtis Gabriel says Sharks teammates got to the point where they no longer wanted Evander Kane in the room
- Gabriel messaged Kane on Instagram before the podcast clips went out, and says Kane read it
- Read below for Gabriel’s full comments and where Kane’s free agency sits
Evander Kane still doesn’t have a contract for next season. He now has a former teammate telling the hockey world exactly what he was like to share a room with.
Kurtis Gabriel spent the 2020-21 season with Kane in San Jose. He was asked on the San Jose Hockey Now podcast on Sunday what Kane was actually like day to day, and he didn’t dance around it.
“It’s disgusting to me that a player can be talented and do that routinely and still have a job. Someone like that kiboshes the whole mentality of the locker room. You can’t handle pure narcissism.”
The specific thing that set Gabriel off was meetings.
“Every meeting, Evander Kane shows up late to team meetings. You’re always there 15 minutes early. Early’s on time. Every time, almost, 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 or whatever.”
Only a few guys ever said anything about it, and Gabriel said the reason why was pretty obvious.
“I’m not intimidated by him. He usually can intimidate and bully people because he’s tough and he can throw lefts and you know he’s a big boy, but he kind of is just a typical bully.”
Where that room eventually landed is the part that traveled furthest: “I’ve never seen such a great player and a team say, ‘We don’t want him here.’”
Gabriel’s Kane stories start around the 2:57:00 mark of the episode. Watch the full appearance:
None of it blindsided Kane, either. Gabriel says he sent Kane a message on Instagram the day before the clips dropped, telling him what was coming and offering to talk it out in private or on the air. Kane opened it.
He wasn’t putting himself on a pedestal through any of it. He admitted he’s acted out plenty himself, and figured a lot of what Kane was doing in San Jose came from a guy who was hurting.
San Jose wasn’t a bad memory overall for him. A good chunk of the same podcast run was Gabriel raving about Brent Burns and the group around him:
Kane’s Sharks run ended badly. San Jose terminated his contract in January 2022 after the league found he violated COVID-19 protocols, and he landed in Edmonton on a one-year deal weeks later.
Vancouver followed Edmonton, and now the 35-year-old is an unrestricted free agent. We wrote earlier this month that his market had fallen all the way to the league minimum, and nothing has moved since.
Training camps open in a couple of weeks. Kane is still waiting on a team.
