Kane Ready to Do His Talking on the Ice?

Is Evander Kane not going to play this season?

Bob Boughner put that question to rest today.

“I’m assured that he will be here for the whole season,” Boughner. “He’s on board.”

There was some uncertainty about this, after The Athletic reported that Kane was filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and might terminate his contract or opt out of this season.

Kane Declines to Comment on Bankruptcy

San Jose Hockey Now documented that Kane, as expected, was a full participant at this morning’s practice.

That’s good news, hopefully, for both the San Jose Sharks and Kane.

Kane joins a long list of athletes who have filed for bankruptcy, including NHL’ers Jack Johnson, Bryan Trottier, and Darren McCarty. While recognizing Kane’s culpability for his own predicament, it’s no doubt emotionally challenging and truly embarrassing.

“It’s something I was not proud of,” McCarty told Calgary reporters in 2006, “because it drags a lot of people into it.”

Trottier admitted, in 1994, that he contemplated suicide: “I never thought I was suicidal, but apparently I was. There were days where I thought, ‘If I could just run [my car] into a brick wall.'”

I’m not suggesting, by the way, that Kane is in that mental state. But there’s a real emotional toll for people in these situations, public or private.

Hopefully then, for the San Jose Sharks and Kane, hockey can be a haven for the six-time 20-goal scorer.

Boughner seems to think that it can be.

“I challenged him, in the middle of the summer and before training camp — like I did everybody else — I want to see practice habits improve, I want to see guys engaged,” the San Jose Sharks head coach offered today. “I even said to him a couple days ago, I pulled him aside, I said, ‘Don’t think it’s gone unnoticed. I thought you’ve had some great practices. You’re paying attention to the detail.'”

If Kane’s been distracted, Boughner hasn’t noticed.

“I’ve seen him pull young guys aside and try to help them out constructively. He’s been very good in training camp. Good for him,” Boughner said. “He seems to be ready to go. When he is, and he’s at the top of his game, he’s one of our best players.”

Via the San Jose Sharks, Kane declined to comment yesterday on his bankruptcy — I imagine this will probably be the case for a while.

But it looks like he’s ready to do some talking on the ice.