What Should Evander Kane’s Next Step Be?

Every Sunday at Peng to the Point, we talk about the world away from the San Jose Sharks.

“You throw like a girl.”

I’ve used that insult on the playground.

“Sedin Sisters.” “Cindy Crosby.” “Katy Perry.”

I was an adult, they were tired jokes I didn’t use, but I also didn’t say anything when I heard them.

“Always good to see the Reaves sisters chime in and try to hop on the coat tails,” Evander Kane wrote in a now-deleted tweet to Ryan and Jordan Reaves.

Enough.

During the summer, Kane, as a co-founder of the Hockey Diversity Alliance, helped bring hockey culture forward. One of the HDA’s aims, according to the group’s official website, is to “work to ensure hockey is accessible to anyone who loves the game.” In that tweet, Kane helped bring the sport back to an all-too-familiar place — not welcoming for everyone.

I’ll let someone else explain, in greater depth, why these insults are problematic. But simply put, they portray femininity as a negative, while feeding into a stereotype — femininity in sports is bad — that’s an outdated obstacle for women and girls to overcome.

Will Kane learn the lesson?

I used a term that was sexist in a earlier tweet. My intention wasn’t for it to come across that way at alI. I would like to apologize for using that term and to anyone who was offended by it. But remember no ones perfect, especially if your on Twitter.

— Evander Kane (@evanderkane_9) November 30, 2020

This apology, flawed as it is, is a start.

But of course, it’s not just about words, it’s about actions.

One obvious and overdue action would be the inclusion of a female hockey player of color to the HDA.

In another recent tweet, Evander Kane said he was all “about that action”. Let’s hope, besides challenging a YouTube celebrity to a fight, that action includes changing the sport of hockey for the better not just for male players of color, but for everyone.