The Edmonton Oilers have two options regarding Evander Kane: they can either trade him to a different team or place him on LTIR, but he doesn’t seem to want either of these options.
It’s been made known to the public by Oilers President Jeff Jackson a few weeks ago that Evander Kane has been dealing with a hip injury, and team doctors have still been looking after him over the off-season to see how things would ultimately play out.
Kane is set to receive $5.125 million next season, and if he is not going to be healthy and ready to play in a majority of games, this could be a major headache for new GM Stan Bowman.
The Oilers will be faced with two options: they can either trade Kane or place him on long-term injured reserve (LTIR). If they place him on LTIR, his salary won’t count against the cap, but Kane may not want that, as he might feel healthy enough to play. Trading him could also be a big problem because he has a no-trade clause and has stated he doesn’t want to leave Edmonton.
‘What makes him such a wild card is that it’s hard to read from day to day and interview to interview where Kane stands health wise. CEO Jeff Jackson mentioned an «issue with his hip,» and the nature of his injury and recovery path remains unclear. Meanwhile, Kane called it a «sports hernia» that was bugging him most of last season. Is it a hip? Is it a hernia? Is it a bit of both? Do either keep him out to the point he’s unreliable?’
The Oilers have one wild card remaining that they can use to deal with the Evander Kane situation. As of February 28, 2025, Kane’s no-trade list will be reduced to only 15 teams, meaning the Oilers can trade Kane to roughly half of the league’s teams without his permission. Bowman might choose to do just that and wait until the trade deadline to offload his contract if all other avenues fail.
There are still two years remaining on Kane’s contract, and the Oilers need to decide whether his 24 goals and 44 points in 77 games last season are worth spending over $5 million on. Bowman will be very busy trying to sign Leon Draisaitl to an extension this season, and the following year they will need to focus on locking up Connor McDavid as well.
There is a lot of work to be done in Edmonton, and an Evander Kane distraction is not something they need right now.
