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Evander Kane facing non-criminal harassment charges

Buffalo Sabres v Arizona Coyotes

GLENDALE, AZ - JANUARY 18: Evander Kane #9 of the Buffalo Sabres during the NHL game against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on January 18, 2016 in Glendale, Arizona. The Sabres defeated the Coyotes 2-1. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

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The future may be bright for the Buffalo Sabres, but it remains to be seen if Evander Kane will be part of it.

From the Buffalo News, here’s the latest on the 24-year-old winger, who can’t seem to stop making headlines for the wrong reasons:

Sabres forward Evander Kane put his hands on four people - three women and a man - at a Chippewa Street bar during the early morning of June 24 but he will face non-criminal harassment charges for his actions against just two women, two police sources familiar with the case told The Buffalo News.

The charges will be lodged in connection with grabbing two women – one of them by the neck - and are based on witness statements and surveillance camera video, the police sources said.

Kane also yanked the hair and grabbed the throat of a third woman, but she has not come forward to press charges, the sources said. In addition, Kane grabbed a bouncer after the bouncer warned the hockey star to stop his aggressive behavior, the police sources said.

For the record, Kane, through his attorney, has denied any wrongdoing.

“Evander steadfastly maintains that he did not do anything wrong. We have seen the videos and they do not support that Kane did anything wrong,” Paul J. Cambria told the News. “I am sick and tired of anonymous sources making inflammatory allegations.”

But regardless of what exactly happened (here’s some video footage, reportedly from that night), Sabres GM Tim Murray admitted recently that his patience with Kane was beginning to wear thin.

“He’s going to have to pick and choose his spots when he goes out a lot better than he does, and he’s going to have to behave himself a lot better than he has obviously,” Murray said. “Whether he has done these things or not, or he is guilty of these things or not, it’s not something I like getting up in the morning and reading about, that’s for sure.”

Recall in February when Kane promised to shape up after sleeping in and missing practice following a night of partying at the NBA All-Star Game in Toronto.

“I wanted to apologize to my teammates, the Pegula family as well, our coaching staff and general manager,” Kane said. “It’s something that should have never happened. It’s something that I can promise you won’t happen again and it’s something that I’m definitely going to learn from.”

It was a promise to be more professional, to start acting like a grown-up.

Not even half a year later, he was in the news again, on the day Buffalo was hosting the NHL Entry Draft, no less.

Eventually, enough could become enough for Murray. He paid a big price to get Kane out of a bad situation in Winnipeg, but Kane can become an unrestricted free agent in two years. Right now, the way things are going, it’s hard to picture Sabres ownership signing him to a big contract extension.