Blackhawks' Kane raises Cain in Wisconsin

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Patrick Kane�s actions speak louder than his words about his alleged �maturity.� (CP)

CHICAGO -- You want to believe Patrick Kane when he looks you in the eye and tells you he's growing up.

The last time he did so with this reporter was in late January at the NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa, Ont. The Blackhawks forward had just finished a round of interviews with media from around the world when he stepped aside to talk not of stick-handling and scoring goals but of the maturation process he had undergone as a person.

"I think you grow up every year, every day," Kane said on Jan. 28. "You learn something new and try to really worry about what's important in life. When you're 18, 19 you think you know everything but you have no clue about anything. I feel way, way more grown up than I used to be."

A lot has happened to the 23-year-old Kane and the Hawks since he talked earnestly about being a grown-up in that Ottawa hotel ballroom. The Buffalo native finished the regular season strong, carrying the team down the stretch and into the playoffs -- all while playing centre rather than his natural right wing.

After a subpar post-season series against the Coyotes during which he had four assists in the six-game loss and was off the ice in the final minutes of Game 6 following a misconduct penalty for, as Kane put it, "just kind of slashing (Coyotes) like Paul Bunyan out there," the off-season arrived.

Not more than a few weeks into it, photos of an allegedly intoxicated Kane attending a Cinco de Mayo celebration in Madison, Wis., were published on the website deadspin.com. They showed Kane cavorting with college students, apparently passed out at a bar and, in one, appearing to walk away while talking with a police officer.

At first, it fuelled more head-shaking and "that's just Kaner being Kaner" thoughts. Things suddenly got much more serious when the website began quoting anonymous sources alleging Kane choked a woman before being thrown out of a party and also hurled an anti-semitic slur during another altercation.

Thus far, there's no way to know if either of those incidents occurred because the Hawks denied access to Kane, and other efforts to reach him were unsuccessful. Moreover, anonymous sources on a website can't be assumed to be reliable. Still, at best, the early-May behaviour was boorish and should be an embarrassment to Kane, whose image has begun to transform from that of an NHL superstar to one of a punch line to a joke that has been told far too many times.

The growing up that Kane has professed a desire to do on a number of occasions -- he also did so after being arrested following an altercation with a Buffalo cab driver during the summer of 2009 and again after pictures surfaced of him and several teammates shirtless in the back of a limousine in Vancouver in January 2010 ("It's probably time to grow up," Kane said a short time later) -- is hard to see.

The point isn't to stifle Kane's free-spiritedness. There's little chance a switch will be thrown one day and the affable Kane will carry himself like teammate Jonathan Toews, who at 24 displays the poise and maturity of a 35-year-old.

"I've always prided myself on being myself and trying to stick true to who I am and how I was raised," Kane said back on the eve of the All-Star Game. "It has been a motto of mine my whole life -- just be yourself."

The Hawks' hierarchy is mum on Kane's antics, also declining to be interviewed. But there can be little doubt president John McDonough -- who is all about a positive image for the organization -- is displeased.

The question begins to be raised, is Kane wearing out his welcome with the organization? When (if?) he does grow up or instead fritters away his remarkable talent in a haze of frat parties, will it be in a Hawks uniform?

And if the once unfathomable scenario of trading Kane to give everyone a fresh start does occur, will the Hawks get fair market value or a bucket of pucks simply to move on?

The Hawks shouldn't give up on Kane and instead should work with him to help him realize the importance of his image and that of the organization's. Toews can be used as an example on how to handle stardom at a young age with grace and dignity.

The situation with Kane is not lost, but with each passing incident it spins a little further away.

-- The Chicago Tribune

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 14, 2012 C3