Did Evander Kane actually have real NHL offers before he decided to sign in Russia? Nobody has shown a shred of proof.
Start with what we actually know. Kane's agent, Dan Milstein, told Jeff Marek and David Pagnotta on DFO Insider that his client is "very close to signing a deal with a KHL team," with the deal expected in the coming days. No KHL club has been named. Believe the core of it, because an agent doesn't go on a hockey podcast to announce a move that isn't happening.
Now for the claim being treated as fact: that Kane spurned legitimate NHL interest to do this. The only source for that is Milstein, talking about his own client, and his phrasing wobbles every time he says it. "We had a couple of things here in North America, but in the end, Evander decided to take his talents to Russia." In another telling, "We had a few clubs in North America, but he has decided to continue in the KHL." A couple of things. A few clubs. No team, no term, no dollar figure, and not a single GM or reporter outside the agent's own mouth confirming any of it.
It's an agent controlling a story, and a lot of coverage has swallowed it whole because "star chooses Russia over the NHL" is a better read than the truth.
The truth is less flattering. This is a 35-year-old coming off 31 points in 71 games with Vancouver last season, decent production but a long way from his best years. He also carries one of the heaviest files in the sport: fired and suspended by San Jose in 2022 for submitting a fake vaccination certificate, sued by a Las Vegas casino in 2019, personally bankrupt. He went unsigned through the entire offseason and into this season. Every team in the league had months to make a call. None did.
Kane does have one point in his favor: he can still play. He hits, he scores, he's got 339 goals in 1,001 games, and in a league where teams routinely hold their noses to add scoring, it's genuinely surprising nobody decided the upside was worth the headache they'd be signing up for. Teams passed because adding him is a chemistry and reputation gamble nobody wanted to make for a fourth-line-to-middle-six return. Everyone remembers he can shoot.
The "he had offers" narrative comes from Dan Milstein, which is exactly what you'd expect. Spinning a client's unemployment as his own choice protects Kane's value if he wants back in, and it protects Milstein's own brand as a guy who gets his players paid. He's doing his job. Just don't repeat his claims without raising an eyebrow.
Until a team, a GM, or a reporter who doesn't work for Kane attaches a name and a number to these North American "offers," they don't exist. The man ran out of NHL runway and the KHL is what's left. Everything else is image management, and the invoice goes to Milstein's desk.
