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Kane confident he will be 'absolved' of any wrong doing

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Patrick Kane is confident. So is Blackhawks President and CEO John McDonough. So, apparently, is the rest of the Hawks organization.

They are all confident that Kane, under investigation for a sexual assault of a woman at his Hamburg, New York home in early August, will be exonerated and found to have done nothing wrong.

Both Kane and McDonough said as much on Thursday in a tense, packed room filled with media members at the Compton Family Ice Arena a day before the Hawks are set to begin training camp for the 2015-16 season.

“We recognize that Patrick Kane is dealing with a very serious situation,” McDonough read from a statement. “Based on our discussions with his legal representatives who are very close to this matter, we have decided to have Patrick join us for training camp here at the University of Notre Dame. Furthermore, we have the utmost respect for the legal process and will have no further comment on this issue at this time.”

Asked later if the Hawks had spoken to law enforcement or the accuser's attorney, McDonough said he didn't know who else the team has been in contact with other than Kane's representatives.

Following McDonough's statement, Kane spoke for the first time since news broke of the sexual assault investigation. He has not been charged with any crime.

“This has been an incredibly difficult time for many people,” he said. “I cannot apologize enough for the distraction this has caused my family, my teammates, this incredible organization and, of course, our fans.”

Kane went on to say that he is confident he “will be absolved of having done nothing wrong.”

The media was then instructed to ask only hockey-related questions, but that proved to be a futile request. Kane was first asked if he had embarrassed the organization by tarnishing what should have been a summer of celebration after the Hawks won their third Stanley Cup in six seasons.

“I know there's a lot of different questions you guys have, but I have to stay confident in myself and the legal process,” Kane said. “I understand the question, but at the same time I'd like to keep to hockey questions only.”

More questions followed: How difficult it will be to focus on hockey? How does he expect fans to respond to him? Did he consider not coming to camp? Will he stop drinking?

To those and two other inquiries, Kane had the same response, saying “I appreciate the question” but he wouldn't answer them.

One question Kane did answer was how good it feels that McDonough, GM Stan Bowman and coach Joel Quenneville all support him.

“I feel like they've always had my back, they've always been there just like they've been there for all my teammates,” Kane said. “That's just the way we view ourselves. We view ourselves as a family, and it's always nice to have their support.”

• • •

Once Kane left the table, McDonough gave a seven-and-half minute statement extolling the virtues of the Blackhawks organization.

“It's been a very short summer,” he said. “Short summers are good for our business. … The Stanley Cup has been paraded all over North America, all over Europe and as many of you have witnessed, it has brought joy to hundreds of thousands of people.”

That long statement by McDonough left one reporter from Buffalo wondering why the Hawks seemed to be “tone deaf” to what is going on with one of their biggest superstars. McDonough was then asked if a report in the Sun-Times in which he was said to be “volcanically outraged” by Kane's supposed actions was true.

“Well, I can assure you that I am anything but tone deaf,” McDonough said. “And I can also assure you that whatever the reference was about a volcanic eruption, which I read at the same time, was a complete fabrication.”

Bringing Kane out to field questions, only to say very little, left many media members wondering why the Hawks didn't limit him to a quick statement. Why bring him out to say almost nothing?

“That's the assessment you have to make — that we would bring him in front of you to say nothing,” McDonough said. “We're in the midst of an ongoing legal issue. And as you can imagine, we take a lot of time to weigh these decisions. A lot of people weigh in on those decisions. For me to expound on anything at this point really wouldn't be appropriate.”

• • •

There are conflicting reports about whether or not Kane and his accuser are involved in settlement talks. Kane's lawyer has stated that he has not spoken to the other side.

“It is false,” Paul Cambria told NBC5 Chicago in a statement. “I am not working with them.”

That doesn't, however, mean that settlement talks aren't happening because in high-profile cases like this, another lawyer or negotiation specialist could be in charge of working out an agreement.

It may be in Kane's best interest to settle because if an indictment is handed down, the Hawks could void his eight-year, $84 million contract. A settlement could result in a suspension from the league or the Hawks.

The grand jury may meet soon, according to some reports, and those proceedings could take about a month before it is determined whether or not Kane would or would not face any charges.

• • •

After McDonough, Bowman and Quenneville left the table, and Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook — who it was announced is now an alternate captain — took a seat and did their best to focus on the upcoming season.

Asked if Kane apologized for putting his status in jeopardy, Toews kept to the theme of the day.

“Of course, to a certain degree, nobody wanted this,” he said. “But again, we don't want to go into those details right now, and I'm sure at a later date some questions like that, other details will surface and they'll be dealt with at another time.

“Right now, the three of us are still going to focus on hockey, focus on those questions that are relevant to us and our team right now.”

• Follow John's reports on Twitter@johndietzdh.

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