Patrick Kane, one of the NHL's biggest stars and a three-time Stanley Cup champion, is the subject of a rape investigation in Hamburg, N.Y., according to the Buffalo News.
When contacted by Sporting News, the Hamburg Police Department would neither confirm nor deny an ongoing investigation and said any charge would be announced on its Facebook page. (UPDATE: No announcement had been posted as of 2 a.m. ET Friday.)
A woman, according to the News' sources, said Kane assaulted her last weekend. The News also reported that police searched Kane's house in Hamburg on Sunday night.
Kane's attorney, Paul J. Cambria Jr., declined to comment when contacted by The Buffalo News on Thursday.
Kane, 26, grew up in Buffalo, which is less than 15 miles from Hamburg.
Before breaking his collarbone last season, Kane was the NHL's leading scorer and a Hart Trophy candidate.
In 2009, he was arrested for drunkenly assaulting a cab driver. The next summer, pictures and rumors surrounding a debauched Cinco de Mayo weekend in Madison, Wis., made the rounds, and they weren't pretty.
The Blackhawks were unhappy with with his actions at the time, but opted to hold on to him, and he was grateful for it.
“Everyone has a different path, that’s for sure. I was lucky enough when I was going through my bumps, that the Blackhawks stuck with me and gave me another chance. I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else, so I’m very fortunate for that," he told the Chicago Sun-Times in February.
“The times kind of changed when I was coming up,” he said. “The internet and the social media and the Twitter and all that stuff really became popular. Stuff when I first came in the league, you could kind of do and it wouldn’t be noticed anywhere. And if you did that with the social media now, it’s everywhere. So, you kind of become aware of that a little bit and realize there are eyes on you all the time.”
Four months later, Kane rewarded the team's faith by leading it in scoring on the way to another Stanley Cup.
Kane, the first overall pick in 2007, had 64 points in 61 games in 2014-15 and was on pace for the best regular season of his career. He scored at least 21 goals in each of his eight NHL seasons, including 23 in the lockout-shortened 2013 season.
"We are aware of the matter and are in the process of gathering information. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time," the Blackhawks said in a statement, according to The Chicago Tribune.
Frank Brown, the NHL's group vice president of communications, said: "We are aware of a police investigation and are following developments."