Ten days before the Blackhawks open training camp at Notre Dame, Patrick Kane’s status remains uncertain.
A grand jury investigation into the allegations made against Kane was abruptly postponed Tuesday, a source told the Sun-Times, confirming a report in the Buffalo News. The Buffalo News report suggested that a settlement could be in the works between the attorneys for Kane and the alleged victim, but the Sun-Times’ source could not confirm that.
Kane has been at the center of an ongoing investigation by Hamburg, N.Y., police and the Erie County district attorney for more than a month. The 26-year-old has not been charged with a crime, but the Buffalo News had reported that subpoenas had been issued and that witnesses would be meeting with the grand jury starting Tuesday. The grand jury would then decide whether there was enough evidence to charge Kane.
A Hawks spokesperson had no update Tuesday on whether or not Kane will be in South Bend for the first day of camp next Friday. In fact, the Hawks have said very little on the subject of Kane, other than a perfunctory statement that they were “gathering information” on Aug. 6. Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith were making the rounds at the NHL’s media tour Tuesday in Toronto — Kane was invited last year — but the Hawks spokesperson said the team would not be making any more players available for comment before camp opens.
ESPN.com reported that Keith declined to comment about Kane.
“I’m not going to get into anything about Kane,” Keith told ESPN.com. “But every summer is different, every offseason is different. We won the Stanley Cup last year. We’re the defending Cup champs, so we’re going to do everything we can to defend that. We’re excited to get the season going and try to defend it.”
Kane’s agent, Pat Brisson, did not return a message seeking comment. He did talk with Canadian television network Sportsnet, however, saying, “Hopefully, soon we’ll have a conclusion to this whole thing.”
“Patrick’s always been honest with me,” Brisson said. “And I do believe what he tells me at the same time, and I believe he’s innocent in this whole thing. But we’ve got to follow the law, we’ve got to follow what’s going on. The hardest part is to see people jumping to conclusions that he’s done this, he’s done that. It’s been, what, a month now? Five weeks? And I just can’t wait for him to get back on track with his life.”
