The Oilers will probably be with out ahead Evander Kane to begin this season as he recovers from a yet-to-be-performed undisclosed surgical procedure, in line with the staff’s Bob Stauffer (X hyperlink).
Kane performed by means of an excellent chunk of final season with a sports activities hernia, he revealed to reporters in April. It plagued him by means of the Oilers’ run to Sport 7 of the Stanley Cup Closing, holding him out of 5 of Edmonton’s 25 playoff video games. It’s unclear if Monday’s information is said.
The restoration from the undisclosed surgical procedure would probably sideline him for a minimum of the primary 10 video games and 24 days of the 2024-25 marketing campaign, which means the Oilers can place him on long-term injured reserve. Doing so would enable them to realize momentary reduction from his $5.125M cap hit, giving new basic supervisor Stan Bowman some much-needed monetary flexibility.
Edmonton’s roster presently tasks to test in at greater than $350K over the $88M higher restrict, per PuckPedia. Not solely do the Oilers want area for day-to-day transactions, however in addition they nonetheless want to come back to agreements with RFAs Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway.
After an underwhelming 2023-24 season, the 33-year-old Kane could have appeared like a possible commerce candidate for Edmonton to clear cap area. However a full no-movement clause by means of July 1, 2025, meant he might have blocked any transfer, together with a waiver placement, and the second 12 months of time period remaining on his deal makes him a more durable promote to groups.
Actually, it’s been an underwhelming couple of seasons for Kane after a powerful preliminary displaying in Edmonton. His 44 factors in 77 video games final season have been particularly poor manufacturing for the ability ahead, and his 0.57 factors per recreation have been his worst because the 2015-16 season.
He didn’t fare significantly better in an injury-plagued 2022-23 marketing campaign both, restricted to 16 targets and 28 factors in 41 video games. His 0.68 factors per recreation that 12 months cratered from the 12 months prior, when he put up 0.91 per recreation after signing with the Oilers midseason following a contract termination by the Sharks.
The 2-time 30-goal scorer nonetheless completed fourth on the Oilers in targets (24) and led them in hits (250) final 12 months, however his 16:47 ATOI was his lowest utilization since his rookie season with the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009-10.
