Kurtis Gabriel opens up on why Sharks teammates no longer wanted Evander Kane around
Photo credit: USA TODAY Sports
Kurtis Gabriel says the Sharks locker room reached a breaking point with Evander Kane, and he sent Kane a heartfelt message before saying so publicly.
Kurtis Gabriel is not holding anything back about his lone season as Evander Kane's teammate in San Jose, and the picture he's painting is not a flattering one.
Appearing on the San Jose Hockey Now podcast, Gabriel said the Sharks locker room reached a point where players simply did not want Kane around anymore, delivering one of the most direct assessments of Kane's reputation to date.
Gabriel said he's never seen a player that good and a team say, we don't want him here, a line that has spread quickly across hockey social media since the clip surfaced.
Gabriel sent Kane a message before going public
Before the clips of his podcast appearance started circulating, Gabriel reached out to Kane directly.
In a message posted to social media, Gabriel told Kane he was speaking his truth about his own life and that he brought Kane up during the conversation.
Gabriel said he did not enjoy playing with Kane at all and called it absurd, though he added that it was actually the lightest story he could tell.
Gabriel also used the message to reflect on his own growth, writing that he has had to do a lot of work on himself since sharing a locker room with Kane and that he has since recognized how absurd his own behavior was at the time.
He said he now has compassion for whatever Kane may have been dealing with, whether he was aware of it or not, and offered to talk things through with him privately or publicly.
Kane's reputation has followed him across stops
Gabriel and Kane spent the 2020-21 season together in San Jose, Kane's final year with the Sharks before a contract dispute sent him out of the organization.
Kane has since played for Edmonton and Vancouver and currently sits unsigned as an unrestricted free agent heading into the 2026-27 season, with his next stop still very much in question.
Kane, a former fourth overall pick, has scored more than 300 goals over parts of sixteen NHL seasons, but his locker room reputation has often overshadowed his production.
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