As far as the offseason goes, this is one of the oddest in recent memory for the NHL. The amount of off-ice problems this summer isn’t necessarily typical, but the severity has opened the eyes of many around North America.
The player that immediately comes to the forefront for his off-ice issues this year is Patrick Kane. Recently, the NHL and Chicago Blackhawks believed that it would be a prudent decision to allow Kane to participate in preseason games – a move which would seemingly be against the precedent they set with Slava Voynov. They ruled quickly that he wouldn’t be allowed to play after domestic violence charges were brought up against Voynov.
What makes the Kane situation different?
Nothing, really.
As a serious charge has been leveled against Kane, the league has decided to double down and allow him to play. The Blackhawks in their infinite wisdom are actually going to be having a Patrick Kane bobble head night in January. No, seriously they are actually having it. Just how tone deaf can one organization be? Not only is this an ongoing investigation for a sexually violent crime but it also is terrible PR for an organization that should be deflecting attention away from themselves.
https://twitter.com/TravisSBN/status/649650934952427520
And the @NHLBlackhawks continue to be garbage and tone deaf. Can't believe there was ever a time I thought I could continue to support them.
— Ella (@tofuidol) October 1, 2015
@TravisSBN @JulieDiCaro you can't be tone deaf if you're not even listening.
— Schatzi Page (@schatzipage) October 1, 2015
For a league that isn’t particularly popular, you would think that the decent and just move would be to suspend Kane until the situation resolves itself but they have made it abundantly clear that they would rather lose fans than do the right thing.