Kane hitting it off with Sharks after trade from Sabres

SAN JOSE --Evander Kane seems relaxed. It is Sunday in San Jose and the sun is shining and the dressing room is nearly empty after practice, save for two teammates engaged in a pingpong match. The ball, at one point, flies off the table toward Kane, who tosses it back. It is easy, it all seems so easy.

This is not the attitude we have been taught to expect from Kane, the forward who ran into trouble in Winnipeg and Buffalo, the player who has stirred up some ire in his nine NHL seasons. But the past two weeks with the San Jose Sharks have shaved the tension from Kane, have tossed his edginess aside and so here he is, basking in his new home, in his new team, in the comfort that he has found.
"I'm loving it here so far," said Kane, 26. "[General manager Doug Wilson] has been great. The coaches have been fantastic. They really have. For the first time, I can genuinely say I have nothing bad to say about anything going on right now."
It is still early, he cautioned. But he said he feels something here that he hasn't found since his first two seasons in the League, when the Winnipeg Jets were the Atlanta Thrashers, and he thought his time in the NHL was going to be smooth, uneventful, simple.
It has been anything but. Still, with the Bay Area attitude and the quirkiness of a Sharks culture that is far from staid, Kane has shaken off his past for the moment, has settled in, has come to believe that comfort may yet find him in the NHL.
"I've been here 10 days and I feel very comfortable," said Kane, who has six points (one goal, five assists) in seven games with San Jose and 46 points (21 goals, 25 assists) in 68 games this season. "I've gotten to know a lot of the guys, which has been great. For me, it's an environment that I've never been in before, and I'm really enjoying this.
"The culture here is, it's all about hard work and focus and it's a winning culture, but away from the ice it's pretty relaxed. It's a very friendly room. The interactions that maybe players are used to having with teammates and coaches and players and coaches, it's a lot different here. It's very candid. It's very honest. It's very genuine, and I think that it's really easy to tell right off the hop."
It started immediately, even before Wilson agreed to trade forward Daniel O'Regan and conditional first- and fourth-round picks in the 2019 NHL Draft to the Buffalo Sabres for Kane on Feb. 26, the day of the NHL Trade Deadline. It started when Wilson polled his leadership group to determine whether it believed Kane would be a fit, despite a career that has been roiled with conflict and baggage.

Joe Thornton, the former captain and emotional leader of the Sharks, did not hesitate.
Yes, he said. Make the trade.
Thornton followed that up with an offer to pick up Kane at the airport. He would be the player's introduction to the team and the philosophy espoused by a group that is about as unorthodox as any in the NHL.
"I didn't ask him to do that. He did that," Wilson said of Thornton. "We're not a button-down environment. But you'd better be professional, you'd better be a great teammate. I think [Kane] wanted to be here. And we wanted him to be here. But we have ways we do things, and I think the group will just take care of each other, I do."
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That environment might be what Kane values most, that and the chance to make his first Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Kane didn't get there in Atlanta, not in Winnipeg, not in Buffalo. This might be his time, though a playoff spot is not assured for the Sharks in the very close Western Conference race; they lead the Los Angeles Kings by one point for second place in the Pacific Division. That was partly why Wilson acquired Kane, adding his speed and grit to a line with center Joe Pavelski and Joonas Donskoi.
"That's obviously the biggest thing," said Kane, whose Sharks play at the Calgary Flames on Friday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, NBCSCA, NHL.TV). "It's pretty tight here in the West right now, but I love a good fight, I love a good battle. That's something I'm embracing right now.
"I always kind of considered myself a playoff player who hasn't played in the playoffs. So I'll have to back that up with action, but I'm definitely excited about that possibility. I watch it on TV and I'm sick of watching. I want to be involved in it. I want to be a part of it, and I want to be a part of it for a long time."
Kane wants to fit in, even if that does not mean to conform. He wants to feel comfortable. He wants to be in an environment where he is not asked to change, to become someone else. He wants to have a personality, be allowed to have that personality, to bring the pizzazz he says he attempted to show in Winnipeg, but which did not go over well.
"Hockey is a sport of conforming," Kane said. "I think the beauty about certain organizations and especially -- I can speak from experience -- but so far with San Jose, that's not the case here. On some of the teams I've played for, the past, it was definitely about that.
"I think that's unfortunate because the more personality and the more individualism you have, the better the League's going to be."

That comes in many forms. Kane pointed, for one example, to fashion and the NBA, the way personality flows through its players, the way they demonstrate part of who they are by what they wear. It's something he sees in San Jose, touched as it is by Silicon Valley and the different approach that imbues in the team that represents the area.
As Wilson told coach Peter DeBoer while they were discussing the job initially, the businesses in the area aren't run traditionally. Neither is the hockey team.
"I worked for Lou Lamoriello and it was no secret, you weren't allowed to grow your hair out or grow a beard," DeBoer said of the Toronto Maple Leafs general manager, who was his GM with the New Jersey Devils. "As far as that goes, this is definitely a welcoming environment to express yourself that way. At the same time, there's a high standard of professionalism here that needs to be upheld. I think Evander's fit into that perfectly."
Part of that has been giving Kane a clean slate, something that DeBoer and Wilson said they have done. DeBoer specifically said he didn't want his new player to come in tainted by his past.
Wilson said he feels the same.
"I don't know what was going on in the Winnipeg organization," he said. "I don't what know what's going on in the Buffalo organization. I don't know. But what Evander's said is he's grown up, he's matured. Most of us are products of experiential learning. Do you learn from something? Do you grow from something?"
Does it change you?
Does it matter?
"I'm still the same person. Absolutely," Kane said. "Have I learned maybe how to go about things in a better way? Or do things the right [way]? Absolutely. That's just growing as a person and maturing. But as a person, have I changed, like what I believe and what I think? Absolutely not.
"Not to toot my own horn, but I think I'm a great guy. I'm a very caring guy. I'm very generous. I'm very genuine. And that part hasn't changed and won't change. But do you learn how to go about things or do things in a different way or a different light? Absolutely."
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A month earlier, the forward had not felt this way, had been anything but relaxed. Weeks shy of the trade deadline, Kane had been tense and nervous, his future up in the air. He had known what was likely to happen, that his time in Buffalo was nearly over. That was likely a good thing, for him and for the club, but it was stressful and difficult.
As he said, "Each week and day that went by was just drawing closer to that conclusion."

He looks different now. He acts differently. There seems to be a weight off.
There is no telling how long that will last, for the next couple of months, the next couple of years, the rest of his career. It is still not certain that San Jose will be his home beyond July 1, when he can become an unrestricted free agent. He may sign with the Sharks. He may go elsewhere.
Things might sour here, as they did in previous stops. Or Kane might have found the right place, where he can succeed, can stay out of trouble, can be the playoff player he thinks he is.
"There's a big difference between being 26 and being 21 or 22," Wilson said. "You learn from your journey. We have a very strong dressing room, some people that I know he has a great respect for. I said when we acquired him, we want him to look around, see how he feels and see how we feel.
"I think he wants to be a great player. I think he's at a great point in his life. … For a guy that's 26, I think his best hockey is ahead of him. I think it's a great opportunity for him. I think it's a great opportunity for us."
So, for now, Kane can relax. He can let the pressure recede. He can joke with Pavelski's 7-year-old son, Nathan, in the dressing room, and walk out the door, believing that he can win with the Sharks, that he can be a part of something, that he can find a place where he fits. Finally.