Joe Will Talks About Waiving Kane, Expects Him to Report to AHL | SJHN+

CHICAGO — The San Jose Sharks are waiving Evander Kane.

The embattled winger is expected to clear waivers tomorrow. He’ll then be assigned to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda.

Acting general manager Joe Will says he expects Kane to report on Tuesday.

Dan Milstein, Kane’s new agent, says his client intends to report, adding “Evander is looking forward to resuming his NHL career this season”.

Statement:Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing Evander’s return to San Jose. We were not surprised by the Sharks’ decision to put him on waivers and, if he does clear, he will report to the Barracudas. Evander is looking forward to resuming his NHL career this season

— Dan Milstein-Hockey (@HockeyAgent1) November 28, 2021

Will that be with the San Jose Sharks?

That’s a good question.

“I’m not planning that we’ll see him at some point,” head coach Bob Boughner offered. “It’s not even a thought in mind.”

That’s some commitment (it’s not).

But first things first: Will took questions from the local media about the decision to send Kane down and the path ahead for the San Jose Sharks and the troubled forward.

Will, on what ultimately factored into having Evander Kane join the Barracuda:

We looked at all options that we had, and since his suspension kind of started, and we’ve talked about that all the way along. At this time, we just decided since he’s a contracted hockey player, it’s the best thing at this time for him to continue to play hockey and the best option for that right now is the Barracuda.

Will, on whether San Jose Sharks players and Bob Boughner were consulted:

I think when you say consulted, they were not necessarily consulted for a decision. That decision is a management decision that we talked about, but we also try and take into account everything. We look at everything from how the team is playing at the time. The team chemistry, we have a really good thing going in the room right now. And so, much like you scrutinize lineup changes on a nightly basis and a game-to-game basis, we look at that consistently.

What’s working right now and so we made the decision right now that just he hasn’t played for quite a while and the fact that we just want to have him play hockey at this point in time and that the Barracuda is the best option for this.

Will, on whether there’s a timeline for Kane to return to the Sharks:

There’s definitely not a timeline. It’s like anything else. You see us all the time. We’re constantly going to our boards and writing down lineups, and saying, what about this and that and talking options. We do that continually with all facets of the team in the organization, so there’s definitely not a timeline. We’re going to see how things go.

Conduct is something that we expect. Doug has put that in place for the entire organization., so to follow club rules in the standard of conduct is just something that’s expected of everyone.

Will, on whether Kane has agreed to reporting to the Barracuda:

First of all, he doesn’t need to agree. This is the team’s prerogative 100% to assign. He’s under contract to the Sharks. But having said that, everything’s been really upfront. I expect that he’s going to be there on Tuesday, and I don’t expect any issues with that. He is aware.

Will, on risk of placing Kane with his young players:

There’s rules in place that are for many different areas, standards of conduct, everything else, from garden variety to tough situations. And on the other hand, there’s very strong leadership with the Barracuda.

I mean, Roy been around longer than anyone, Roy knows Evander. He knows the entire organization after having been associate head coach a couple of seasons ago. Roy has been with many, many players, more than any other coach I know. I think he’s been with more players and so he is, he’s dealt with a lot of things in his career. So he’s there, he’s aware of this too and I trust the environment.

Will, on how long he can be down with Barracuda:

There is an option for a conditioning assignment that would have meant putting them on the AHL roster, and then getting permission from there, of up to two weeks. This [non-conditioning] route allows us more flexibility of the assignment, so there is no set timeline or anything like that associated with it. He’s just assigned there until he’s not assigned there.

Will, on Kane’s reaction to news:

His reaction is just business. It’s just taking the information and okay, that’s what it is. We kind of made the decision and passed it along. That’s pretty much what it was.

Will, on what Kane has to do to prove himself and return to NHL club:

There’s nothing nothing clear-cut. It’s just an ongoing observation I think of hockey, but, at the same time on conduct or anything like that. I guess it’s what you don’t see. So, it’s just getting to playing hockey and just getting down to business. There’s not really a goal set or a set accomplishment or timeline or production, but it’s just an overall thing.

Will, on if Kane is vaccinated:

All the players and staff in our organization are fully vaccinated.

Will, on how long Kane has been skating and who with:

He’s been over and skating on-ice, off-ice type workouts, which he’s entitled to, with various members of the staff. That’s kind of alternated. It’s been at different times and locations, just so that we have available staff with him, that we have a trainer and some of the other strength side, but yeah, professional-level training. That’s been ongoing.

Will, on if it’s fair to put Kane with the Cuda when the Sharks couldn’t handle him last year:

Well, we have club rules and a standard of conduct in place, which will be enforced.

Last year, some things were different. We were really hunkered down with COVID. We were not able to leave the hotel. We had different travel codes, dress codes, the things that we’re doing, that were all related to COVID. Being stuck in the hotel and just ordering your meals remotely and things of that nature. The environment was much different last year.

I’m not going to get into any inside the locker room dynamics and never will. What’s inside the locker room and with players, that stays with them, rightfully so, but I will tell you that we have strong leadership with the Barracuda and we do have rules and conduct in place and like with any player, if things aren’t being adhered to, they’ll be addressed.

Will, on if a trade is still possible with Kane:

Yeah, I think anything’s a possibility. We continue to look at all options, so we look at all options and we’re not committed to any, so we’ll pursue anything that serves us as we do daily with our roster and our organization. So the answer is yes.

Will, on if Kane has approached him about adding more “yes” teams to his limited no-trade clause:

Not at this time. That’s something that I have an open door too that certainly can be brought up to us. If he wants to look at something there, he certainly can bring that up to us. But right now our focus is just getting him to the Barracuda by Tuesday.

Will, on Roy’s thoughts about the decision:

Roy is a very upfront person. He’ll tell you what’s on his mind and go from there. So yeah, Roy is like that with pretty much all the players and when I told him, he said, ‘Okay,’ much like he goes with any player that comes to the Barracuda and Roy goes, ‘Okay,’ and he’s ready for it. He’s had anywhere from young players, first-round players, free agents, players from all over the world, and he’s had players come from the NHL before.

He’s seen every circumstance of players coming that way. So it’s not really a new thing for him. With Roy, it’s pretty much what you see is what you get.

Special thanks to Michael Gutnick for his work preparing this transcript.