It was close to five years ago now that the infamous tracksuit incident allegedly happened in Vancouver that many felt ultimately led to fourth overall pick Evander Kane getting shipped out of Winnipeg. It created quite a stir in the media at the time, as evidenced by this article from Sportsnet which outlined the rift it apparently caused between Kane and his teammates. In a recent interview with Fox Sports' Fair Game with Kristine Leahy, Kane attempted to clarify the incident, claiming it didn't happen the way the media said it did.
"This tracksuit," said Kane, using air-quotes around the word tracksuit. "That was a made-up word. There was no tracksuit. It was a...I was wearing clothes that didn't look like this," Kane said, referring to the suit he was wearing for the interview. "I was wearing nice jeans, nice shoes, I was wearing a nice jacket. It wasn't a tracksuit. There was an incident with my clothing that transpired that sent me over the edge."
Kane goes on to explain that the team had just completed back-to-back games. In these cases, teams usually don't take part in a morning skate. The Jets were in Vancouver that day. Kane's parents live there so he stayed at their house the night before. He said there are usually morning meetings at the hotel in these cases where players can "come down in a robe if you like." He drove from his parents house to attend the meeting, but claimed the team had already left on the bus for the arena. He said he drove to the arena and attended the team meeting and did media interviews in the clothes he was wearing, which apparently rubbed some people the wrong way.
"Tracksuit was the term that the Canadian media decided to use as a description of the attire I was wearing because it wasn't a suit."
"When you're starving for a headline and a story...I was a very polarizing figure in the city of Winnipeg, let's jump on it."
Kane said he had been playing the last two years with a badly injured shoulder. It was at that time that he decided to have surgery to repair it. Five days later, he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres. He does not deny wanting out of Winnipeg.
"I had asked for a trade every single year I was in Winnipeg," said Kane. "Every offseason. Directly. I couldn't have been more clear. But I was not traded. It took me shutting it down, getting surgery on my shoulder and taking care of my body for them to finally pull the trigger and trade me."
Asked if it's now better with the San Jose Sharks, Kane replied quickly, "night and day." Kane, who was originally drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers and came to Winnipeg with the rest of his teammates when the team was sold, said he could never be himself in Manitoba. He said he was super excited to go to a Canadian market at the time, but didn't realize it would mean an entirely different scenario from playing in Atlanta.
"That excitement quickly turned to paranoia. I was trying to brand myself, trying to grow the game, trying to grow my brand but that didn't vibe with the city very well, unfortunately," said Kane "And, like I said, the locker room. And, for me, it just wasn't the right setting. And I quickly realized that. Unfortunately, it kind of dragged on for a number of years with me being there."
There were clear gaps between Kane and his teammates in Winnipeg. A rumoured incident with Dustin Byfuglien throwing his clothes in a running shower took place around the same time as the "tracksuit" incident, while teammate Blake Wheeler told the media that Kane should get out of the city if he doesn't like it there.
“If you don't like it then there's other places to go. This is the way we do things," said Wheeler in February of 2015.
Kane's comments contained in this story can be viewed below.
