What was looking like one of the feel good stories of the 2014-15 NHL season is quickly becoming a nightmare. The Winnipeg Jets have gone from soaring towards an unexpected playoff run to a team that may be running out of fuel at the worst possible time.
Beyond that, the Jets and talented but troubled forward Evander Kane finally had their fractured relationship reach the boiling point last week. The Kane episode revealed a locker room that is focused and determined to make a playoff bid while having lost all patience with Kane.
Raising Kane
Kane was far happier when the Jets were the Atlanta Thrashers and has never been all-in since the team relocated to Winnipeg in 2011. Even last year when he signed a contract extension Kane said that he was a Jet “for now.” Kane has been criticized for his partying antics and his dedication has come into question. In recent months, Jets players said they felt that Kane was not being a responsible or committed teammate.
The climax of a long brewing blowup with Kane and his Jets teammates finally came last week when the left winger went AWOL after teammate Dustin Byfuglien threw Kane’s track suit into the shower. Byfuglien was angered because Kane did not follow the team’s formal dress code show up in a regular dress in a suit. After the track suit episode, Kane skipped out, failing to arrive for the team bus and a meeting afterwards. Head coach Paul Maurice then made Kane a healthy scratch for their game at Vancouver, which is Kane’s home town. Kane had voiced how excited he was for the game against the Canucks and the chance to play in front of friends and family. The entire episode will likely end in an eventual trade of Kane.
Jets right winger Blake Wheeler spoke for the team. “There’s a standard that everyone needs to live up to. We’re professionals, we make a lot of money, we’re expected to uphold a certain standards and that’s a code we live by. That’s just the way it is. If you don’t like it then there’s other places to go.
There has been increasing tension between Kane and his teammates, who have made a full commitment to a team game and culture under Maurice. That commitment has made the Jets a surprise Western Conference contender. Winnipeg is a team that most observers believe has exceeded their assessed ability.
It is likely that Kane believes that he has put himself on the line for the Jets by playing with a bad shoulder and that once Maurice scratched him for the Vancouver game, he was finished with the coach and team. To some Kane is quitting on the team. To others, the team quit on Kane.
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Time for Surgery
After being scratched for the Vancouver game, Kane decided to go under the knife for shoulder surgery. To his credit, Kane has played hurt and his disappointed teammates acknowledge that he had not loafed in games. Kane is only 23 years old, and was a 30 goal scorer in the Jets first season in Winnipeg. That 30 goal season has become something of an albatross for Kane, as expectations have been high ever since.
Sour Grapes
Don Cherry ripped Kane in Hockey Night in Canada’s Coach’s Corner segment on Saturday night.
“You are a jerk right now,” said Cherry. “What you did coming into a team meeting, everybody has shirts and ties on, and you come in in a track suit. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Cherry also doesn’t buy Kane’s need for shoulder surgery at the present time.
“Don’t think you can fool me with the operation,” said Cherry. “The operation is they didn’t want you around.
“You disrupt the team, you’re the fork in the road,” he said. “Either be a jerk or be a good player. If not, like Wheeler says, ‘get out of the game.’ Smarten up and don’t be a jerk.”
Out of Fuel?
The Jets have lost six games in a row and are just five points head of the ninth place Minnesota Wild and Los Angeles Kings for the final playoff spot. Winnipeg’s lack of offense is catching up with them, and without Kane for the foreseeable future, no improvement seems to be coming on the horizon.
