Patrick Kane Investigation: Blackhawks, NHL Playing it Safe

By Diana Driscoll |

What will happen in the case involving Chicago Blackhawks star forward Patrick Kane has yet to be determined.

It was supposed to head to a grand jury today, but it was suddenly postponed. Many of us are still in the dark when it comes to the details surrounding the case and I am not got to sit here and speculate. Things will come to light soon enough.

But what I will talk about is how the Blackhawks organization and the NHL are handling the whole thing: they’re being cautious.

This is to be expected.

They are going to wait until time is nearly out before doing anything drastic. Why? Because Kane is one of the league’s top players and, since the situation is still pretty unclear, it wouldn’t make sense for either to hand down a suspension or anything this early. Remember, Kane had not be charged of anything as of yet.

So while any form of disciplinary action is on hold, they are taking little steps to avoid any unwanted attention. How are they doing this?

Well, the NHL didn’t invite Kane to participate in a promo shoot. Forty players across the league were invited. If these were normal circumstances you know Kane would be one of those players. But the NHL made the right call not to include him.

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In my opinion, he cannot represent the NHL’s brand (and the Blackhawks for that matter) with his current situation still unresolved. It’s just not a feasible option. It is much better to hurt Kane’s pride a bit than the integrity of the League.

The Blackhawks have also decided to sidestep questions about whether Kane will or will not attend training camp. In pretty much all instances I don’t like the “no comment” answer when asked an important and direct question. But really what else can the Blackhawks PR team do?

They don’t know what’s going to happen. So instead of putting their foot in their mouth, showing a lack of support for a player that has led them to three Stanley Cups, or supporting a player who allegedly committed a crime, they are waiting. Really, it seems like their only option.

If this were going on in the middle of the season, I would expect immediate responses by both the club and the League. But this is the offseason and things have time (albeit not much) to be resolved.

Many sources have been reporting that the grand jury hearing was postponed because settlement talks are in the works. If that happen, I will be interested to see how the NHL and Hawks handle it. Legally he would be cleared of any wrongdoing (although again he’s never been charged). But from a moral standpoint, I can still see it being a bit murky.

I don’t know what will happen. But I do believe this one is going to come down to the wire. So just like the Hawks and the NHL, we are going to have to be patient and wait to see what happens.

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