Decisions on Kane not complicated for Hawks

The Blackhawks' future decisions concerning Patrick Kane aren't complicated.

If Kane can help the Hawks win Stanley Cups, they should keep him around. If he can't, they shouldn't.

The weekend's buffoonery in Buffalo doesn't factor in unless it interferes with Kane's hockey performances.

Sorry, folks, that's the world of sports we live in.

First, of course, the Hawks must sort fact from fiction in Kane's celebrated arrest. This means letting the legal system run its course - acquittal, conviction, settlement, whatever.

If Kane is exonerated of the charges against him, the Hawks should welcome him back and continue evaluating his value as a player.

If Kane is convicted of the charges, well, the Hawks should wait for him to serve whatever penalty is assessed and then continue evaluating his value as a player.

Either way this eventually will come down to a hockey decision because, as I always say, sport isn't a morality play.

The games that fans pay to watch are populated with myriad athletes with myriad legal and ethical problems.

Drunk drivers, domestic batterers, drug abusers and even worse louts manage to find work on the pro level.

If Kane is guilty of assaulting and robbing a cabdriver in his hometown of Buffalo, he'll join that dubious group.

Meanwhile, some time or other Kane will resume his career.

Should it be with the Hawks? That's the question begging to be answered, right?

Justice is a sliding scale in sports. How much an athlete's indiscretions will be tolerated depends on how many games and championships he can help win.

Kane is an interesting study. Not everybody is convinced he's as good as a former No. 1 overall draft choice and rookie of the year should be.

Is Kane big enough to take the NHL beating? Is he tough enough? Does he work hard enough?

So much still must be determined about Kane the 20-year-old player, and those determinations will determine to a great extent how the Hawks view Kane the 20-year-old person.

If the athletic assessments come up negative, so will the personal assessments. Then the Hawks will have to shop him around the NHL and disguise the move as a salary-cap necessity.

But if Kane becomes an MVP-type talent who can help the Hawks get where they want to be on the ice, they'll have to try to get him where he needs to be off the ice.

Was underage drinking involved in the Buffalo incident? Send Kane to alcohol rehab. Does he have anger issues? Send him to anger management. Is he an immature kid who needs to grow up? Send him to Kiddie Kollege.

Heck, what the Hawks might have to do just to maintain credibility in the community is dispatch Kane to tell kids to do as he preaches, not as he did.

In a perfect world if Kane is a great hockey player with character flaws, he'll outgrow them and the Hawks will benefit from helping him do so.

If Kane is convicted in Buffalo, fans in the United Center will be uncomfortable upon his return and then cheer every goal he scores.

It's the nature of sports, as the Blackhawks and their faithful likely will demonstrate concerning Patrick Kane.

Pretty uncomplicated stuff.