Here is why all the PSAs that professional teams and athletes make to raise awareness about sexual assault and domestic violence ring hollow. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, not long after the Buffalo News broke a story about Patrick Kane's involvement in a rape investigation—an investigation through which he has not yet been charged with a crime—at least five NHL teams reached out to the Blackhawks to offer their services as a trade partner.This is not at all surprising, Patrick Kane is a superstar hockey player. He's won three Stanley Cups with Chicago, was set to be the face of a video game before this investigation, and is still only 26 years old. Trading for a guy like that would be an organizational game-changer; better yet at a discounted price. So, of course teams inquired, they are in the business of building good hockey teams so they can win and make money. They'd almost be negligent not to at least put it out there. And newspapers would almost be negligent not to write about it in the most preposterous of frames:
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Whenever something undesirable happens—like a player gets traded, or cut—there's always that shorthand of "It's a business" to rationalize the act. It's like a warm blanket to cover and suppress the horrible feelings these things bring up and it's almost become second nature. Usually it's just sad; some underdog player gets chewed up and spit out by the machine, but everyone is always on notice because it's a business. We knew this could happen.Somewhere along the way it became a catch-all. The Sun-Times article goes to great lengths to describe the P.R.-savvy Hawks: "They sign autographs for fans. They do loads of charity work. They tweet out pictures of their adorable kids." It's a setup to that block-quoted paragraph; it lets you know why it's OK to talk about Patrick Kane potentially raping a woman as the final straw for the team, how he "disrespected" his teammates (!!!). Why it makes sense to consider the trade. We're trying to run a business, here. We can't have guys disrespecting the team by possibly raping someone. Can't have it, gotta move him. Gotta continue the illusion that we care about the community in ways that don't involve their dollars.There's not one mention of how weird it is that teams jumped at the chance to trade for a man accused of rape—how detached from any kind of actual emotion this story is—it's just this is why trading Patrick Kane would be good for the Blackhawks.And that's how a story like "5 Teams inquire about Patrick Kane" happens. There's too much at stake to just let an opportunity like that go, no matter how squeamish it (hopefully) makes people feel. Then it's not about adorable kids, or signing autographs, then it's a business.He's always been good to fans, he's always been close with his teammates, he's always been one of the hardest workers on the team. But there's an off-ice responsibility, too. One Kane hasn't lived up to. As one team source put it, he "disrespected" the team and his teammates by once again putting himself in a bad situation.
Any other player, it would probably be different. But as that source put it, the Hawks have run out of patience.