Patrick Kane is reportedly drawing trade interest and that’s messed up

On the night of Patrick Kane’s alleged rape, the victim and her friend were invited home for a private party after they met the Chicago Blackhawks star at a bar. After going into a room by herself, Kane reportedly followed the victim, overpowered her and raped her. The woman left Kane’s home and called a relative immediately. The victim then went to the hospital for an examination and police were called. Here’s another horrific detail from the Buffalo News report.

A person who knows the woman described her as frantic and traumatized when she called her relative to report what happened.

Now I’ve read online from commenters, which you should never do by the way, that Kane should be innocent until proven guilty.

Kane legally deserves that right, but why can’t we extend the same thought process and respect for the victim? Rape is a horrible, traumatizing crime, and accusing somebody of doing so takes an extreme amount of courage – especially when it’s against a person so publicly adored as Kane. Kane has not been charged with a crime yet, but that doesn’t mean he should be treated like he’s done nothing wrong.

With all these horrible details going public, Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting there are many teams interested in Kane, as five of them contacted club after the Buffalo News first reported he was being investigated.

At least five teams contacted the Hawks once the Buffalo News first reported the investigation — which involves Kane and a woman at his Hamburg home — and said they’d be willing trade partners should the Hawks decide to cut ties with their superstar winger, according to a league source. The 26-year-old is entering the first year of a record-setting eight-year, $84-million contract.

Andy Strickland has sources close to Kane which dispute the report that any teams are interested in acquiring the forward. All trade rumors should be taken with a grain of salt, but it seems odd that these would pop up without at least a little basis in fact.

I understand to succeed in the NHL general managers need to be active in exploring deals, even if they don’t seem likely to happen or if there’s extenuating circumstances, but it’s beyond deplorable for someone to read a player allegedly raped someone and than proceed to call up that player’s team GM and be like “that’s who I want on my team,” and try to strike a good deal. This is even more true when the situation is still unresolved. How effed up is that? Five teams are reported to have thought it would be good idea to ask about a player who was freshly accused of rape. That’s a great message to send to fans. You should never put hockey before humanity.

Editors around the hockey blogosphere (not mine) have unfairly asked writers to come up with pieces suggesting where Kane might be a fit should he be traded, when the answer is clearly nowhere. Kane is a human being who is accused of raping another human being. He shouldn’t be given a second chance right now until he’s cleared of any wrong doing. The situation needs to be played out. Kane, shouldn’t be anywhere near a hockey rink, as the accusation is much bigger than a measly game.

About Liam McGuire

Social +Staff writer for The Comeback & Awful Announcing. Liammcguirejournalism@gmail.com

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