The Patrick Kane case has been strange from the get-go. There were the allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in western New York, but charges were dropped when the accuser wouldn’t cooperate with authorities. Then this week the case took a turn when the National Hockey League issued a statement saying the allegations were “unfounded. And it was followed by a Sports Illustrated feature on Kane which has been swathed in controversy for blaming the alleged victim.

Hockey writer Scott Wheeler who is part of SB Nation’s Pension Plan Puppets blog and has had several stories published on various sites was critical of the SI story on Thursday:

And he continued to criticize how story author S.L. Price wrote the Kane story:

As a result, Wheeler said his story that had been accepted by SI had been pulled.

Wheeler then compared how SB Nation handled the Daniel Holtzclaw story to how SI handled the Kane story:

UPDATE: A Sports Illustated spokesman has issued the following statement:

The irony is that he came to us several months ago trying to sell a story which we declined. After shopping it around he offered it again to us which we declined to pay for but we agreed to try and find a home for it. Then to publically criticize the editorial integrity of the very company you are trying to sell a story? No thank you.

UPDATE II: Wheeler has disputed the SI statement in another series of tweets seen below, even producing e-mails he says are from SI confirming their interest in publishing his article:

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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