UPDATED: Kane Talks to SportsCenter About Gambling Allegations, Locker Room Discord

Evander Kane addressed the media for the first time since estranged wife Anna Kane accused him of gambling on San Jose Sharks games.

“I’m going to be exonerated of the allegations,” Kane said unequivocally to Linda Cohn on SportsCenter. “Incredibly false.”

Kane added that he had never bet on the NHL, thrown any of his games, or changed how he played in any way because of gambling.

“I had a gambling problem,” the San Jose Sharks winger admitted, citing the fact that he gambled the night before Game Four of the first round of the 2019 playoffs versus the Vegas Golden Knights. “When you have a gambling problem, just like a drinking problem, or a drug problem, sometimes you can’t control your actions.

“You just keep digging a deeper hole.”

Kane says he has sought help for his gambling problem and isn’t gambling anymore.

Cohn also asked about the reported locker room discord between Kane and his San Jose Sharks teammates.

“I’m not sure,” Kane responded, when asked why his teammates might see him as difficult to work with. “I think it’s easy to point the finger at me. I think it’s easy to try to make me the scapegoat because of some of my personal issues that are playing out in the public. I think it’s an easy copout.”

He added: “But at the same time, I don’t necessarily know or believe [those reports] are true. When it comes to the media, I really take it with a grain of salt.”

Kane also said, in an unaired portion of the interview: “The media does what the media does. Certain members of the media [who] feel that they have an ear in the room or unidentified sources really mean nothing to me.

“I’ve heard rumors about me being traded. Well, I have a [no-trade] list that they can only trade me to and I haven’t even been asked for it, so I’m not getting traded. And I would know about it first.”

Kane has a limited no-trade clause; he can only be dealt to three teams of his choice.

The San Jose Sharks are set to begin training camp on Sept. 22. The NHL says they’ll release their investigative report on whether or not Kane gambled on league games before then.