Vancouver Canucks Daily Rumblings: Unacceptable Ridiculousness
Evander Kane is the main topic for Vancouver Canucks fans right now, but maybe that should stop.
In this daily rumblings series, my goal was and is to compile the most important Vancouver Canucks pieces of the summer and share my opinion on them. So far, that just meant I would pick up relevant topics and discuss them.
This time around, it’s slightly different. Because The Province writer Ben Kuzma dropped an article he probably should have thought through before writing it.
This is about the writer’s opinion, not the topic itself.
Ridiculous and Unacceptable
Ben Kuzma — The Province: Wayward winger Evander Kane would fill Canucks’ scoring needs
The optics of another off-ice altercation by the wayward Evander Kane were ugly, but the timing may not have been better for the Vancouver Canucks, who desperately need to acquire a second-line left-winger.
Seriously, Mr. Kuzma?
What the headline of this Province article promised was a simple analysis of how and why Evander Kane would be a good fit for the Canucks. Instead, we got a couple very questionable statements regarding Kane’s issues with the law and the consequences of those.
“The timing may not have been better for the Vancouver Canucks.”
I may be putting words in his mouth when I say this, but it almost sounds like Kuzma is claiming that Kane facing criminal assault accusations is exactly what the Canucks need.
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What the Canucks want and need is a second-line winger at a cheap price and Kane could be exactly that. But claiming that Kane turning himself in to police makes matters even better for Vancouver is just an absolutely stupid thing to do.
A player with Kane’s talent and Sidney Crosby‘s character would come at an extremely high price. Kane with Kane’s supposed character flaws under consideration of recent events could be a lot cheaper. There is a lot of truth to that. However, at no point should anyone claim legal troubles make things better, even if it means a talented player could be acquired at a low price.
Of course, Kane is innocent until proven guilty. So, there is a chance that Vancouver would get a good player at a low price because of something that eventually turns out to be wrong.
However, I personally haven’t been handcuffed before. Most people who have been, have actually done something at some point that put themselves into that situation.
Doubts about Kane’s character didn’t come out of nowhere, so there must be something to it. That doesn’t make him a criminal, but that also isn’t the point here. Whatever Kane has done or hasn’t done, he is in a bad position right now — and that position should most certainly not be seen as a positive for the Vancouver Canucks.
To make things worse, Kuzma also dropped this:
Whether Kane has a behavioural problem to the extent that the NHL could evoke disciplinary action, or demand counselling, you have to wonder how much of all this is a serious character flaw?Or, how much is it a result of being a talented, well-paid, fun-loving, stubborn and selfish athlete, with a skewed sense of professionalism?
I neither want nor need to really get into this anymore because I made clear what I think of this whole article after reading just the first paragraph. I just wanted to include this for the sake of completeness.
As I said, not many people get themselves into Kane’s situation without having done something wrong. So putting sexual assault charges off as the result of being well-paid and fun-loving is not only ridiculous but unacceptable.
There are things you should write and things you shouldn’t write. What Kuzma wrote definitely falls into the latter category. Actually, you can substitute the word “write” with “think” there.
Evander Kane may be a good fit for the Vancouver Canucks. But the timing would be absolutely terrible right now.