The Sharks could sever ties with Evander Kane. Here’s how.

Amid reports the Sharks have explored trading Evander Kane and that several of his teammates do not want him to remain with the organization, another avenue has apparently opened for the club to part ways with the embattled forward if they so choose.

Goalie Adin Hill, a restricted free agent, filed for salary arbitration on Sunday as he and the Sharks have yet to agree on a new contract. Per the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement with the Players’ Association, when a player elects salary arbitration, it allows the team to exercise a buyout outside of the regular window if certain requirements are met.

Those requirements are that the club does not have more than three buyouts that were executed in the second window, that the contract being bought out has an average annual value above $4 million and that the player being bought out was on the club’s reserve list at noon (PT) at the time of the most recent NHL trade deadline.

The Sharks have not executed more than three buyouts in the second window, Kane’s contract carries an average annual value of $7 million for the next four years and he was on the team’s reserve list on April 12, the date of this past season’s trade deadline.

A buyout in the second window would have to take place no more than 48 hours after the final arbitration case is settled or awarded. This year, 17 players elected arbitration and there are two team-elected arbitration cases. Arbitration hearings are scheduled to take place between Aug. 11 and 26.

Still, buying out the remaining years on Kane’s contract would have some expensive drawbacks for the Sharks.

For one, it would greatly increase the amount of dead money that’s already on the Sharks’ books for the next several years after Martin Jones’ contract was bought out July 27 on the last day of the regular buyout period.

Jones’ deal had carried an AAV of $5.75 million, but dead money total is roughly $7.25 million for the next three seasons combined. After that, the cap hit on the contract is reduced to $1.66 million for three more years until the 2026-27 season.

Kane’s deal, should it be bought out, would remain on the books until 2029. The dead money on his deal would total over $13 million for the next four seasons, then go to $1.833 million per year for four more years.

Between the two contracts, that would be a lot of unused space considering the cap is expected to remain flat or increase only slightly over the $81.5 million limit it is now.

But considering how much the relationship between Kane and some of his teammates has reportedly soured, a buyout would seemingly have to at least be discussed by the Sharks’ front office.

The Athletic, citing sources, reported Tuesday that several Sharks players do not want Kane to remain with San Jose and that the team sought to trade him. Daily Faceoff had reported, before allegations of Kane’s gambling on NHL games arose, that friction had built up between some Sharks players and Kane over the course of the season.

Kane just finished his third full season with the Sharks after he was acquired by general manager Doug Wilson in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres in Feb. 2018. In 212 games with the Sharks, Kane has 87 goals and 166 points, second only in that time to Brent Burns’ 173 points.

The NHL announced Saturday that it would investigate allegations made by Anna Kane, Evander Kane’s estranged wife, that he gambled on NHL games. Evander Kane has strenuously denied the allegations.

Per the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players’ Association, gambling by players on any NHL game is prohibited. League by-laws also contain a provision that says any player betting on any NHL game — whether it is his team’s game or not — may be expelled or suspended by the commissioner.

ESPN reported that the investigation team will be assembled by Jared Maples, who took over as the NHL’s executive vice president and chief security officer in May. Maples is the former head of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security.

The NHL expects to conclude its investigation into Kane by the start of training camp next month.

Tuesday, the Hockey Diversity Alliance announced that Kane was on voluntary leave as a board member “as to not distract from our mission to eradicate systemic racism and intolerance in hockey.” Kane, along with eight other current and former NHL players, helped create the alliance last year.