What's Your Venmo?
Minnesota Wild fans (and Evander Kane’s ex-wife) are Venmoing Ryan Hartman to pay his fine for flipping off Evander Kane
Evander Kane sucks. This probably isn’t news to you, but we’ll say it anyway. He’s been investigated for gambling on NHL games. He faked his COVID-19 vaccination card and got caught. He’s been accused of an abortion-for-pay scheme in which he did not pay, flamed out of every franchise he has ever been part of, and has basically professional hockey’s persona non grata. On Tuesday, Kane continued his reign of scumbaggery when he picked a fight with Minnesota Wild star Kirill Kaprizov. Sensing a consequence-free chance to punch Kane in the head, five Wild teammates immediately jumped to Kaprizov’s defense. Kane received no such support from his own bench, and the dust-up quickly turned into a five-on-one fracas. As things wound down, Wild center Ryan Hartman was seen flipping Kane the big ol’ bird while getting shepherded from the fray.
Although punching guys in the face is all well and good, the NHL strongly condemns gesture violence, and thus Hartman was hit with a $4,250 fine on Wednesday. As soon as that news broke, however, Wild fans (and Kane haters) from all across the world began flooding Hartman’s Venmo with donations. It all started with a $10 donation from Allie Cooke …
… and continued until even Kane’s ex-wife—with whom he is currently embroiled in a messy divorce with—contributed. Nothing brings the world together like mutual hatred.
At this point it might have occured to you that Hartman can afford to pay his own fines, and you are correct. Hartman plans to pay the donations forward, contributing to a worthy cause when the time is right. Perhaps the greatest act of kindness (and by kindness we mean passive-aggressive burn), however, would be to send it right back to Kane, who declared bankruptcy shortly before the start of the 2020 season. As far as gestures go, that sure as hell beats a middle finger.