Evander Kane addresses contract termination and why the Sharks kicked him off the team

After weeks of speculation, Evander Kane will indeed join the Edmonton Oilers. While the deal won't be official until tomorrow, multiple NHL insiders have reported that Kane has indeed agreed to a prorated $2 million annual deal for one year.

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The Washington Capitals were reportedly also in the running, but never made an official contract offer to Kane.

These reports all came out prior to the NHL concluded its investigation that Kane allegedly violated the league's COVID-19 protocol for the second time this season. However, the NHL just issued its ruling stating essentially that did nothing wrong and will face no punishment.

Now Kane is doing damage control ahead of officially joining the Oilers and sat down with TSN's Kayla Grey for an exclusive interview in which he clears up exactly what happened that ended his time with the San Jose Sharks.

In this wide ranging interview Kane admits to making several mistakes over the years and also addresses many of the rumors that have followed him around this season specifically. Unfortunately, he doesn't really offer up as much insight into what happened behind the scenes as most hockey fans would like. Frankly, he kinda of plays the "I can't comment on that" card a bit much.

The one thing that we all want to know is what happened that enabled the Sharks to terminate his contract. Well... Kane says it's not what's being reported.

In any case Oilers have been linked to Kane since the moment the San Jose Sharks terminated his onerous $7 million annual contract for breaking NHL COVID-19 protocol for the second time this season. Kane was, of course, suspended for 21 games earlier this season after he was found to have issued a fake vaccination card in training camp. Kane does cop to this transgression and admits that there's no excuse for his behavior. He accepted his punishment and served his suspension. From there, things get murky. 

It's worth noting that the NHL has cleared him of any wrongdoing while traveling home to Vancouver for the holidays but the NHL has still upheld his contract termination by the Sharks so... frankly, I'm thinking there's more behind the scenes that we don't know. Maybe we'll never know.

It's fair to say that Kane's personal life is a total mess but, on the ice though... well that's a different story.

Despite his off ice struggles, Kane has been productive for the Sharks the past few years. He put up 22 goals and 49 points in just 56 games last season and has led the team in goal scoring the past two seasons. Despite what you may think of him as a person, he can still fill the net and that makes him a valuable commodity in the NHL.