The Edmonton Oilers came up just short, again. A season after losing in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, they ended up in second place this time by Game 6, all at the hands of the Florida Panthers.
There could be changes coming, and Evander Kane is a prime candidate.
After some shaky postseason penalties, and now 34 years old, Kane’s one year and $5.125 million remaining on his contract looks tradeable.
The Athletic’s Harman Dayal called Kane one of the nine-most tradeable “overpriced” contracts in the NHL.
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“Kane turns 34 this summer and missed the entire regular season to repair both hip abductors, two lower abdominal tears, and two hernias,” Dayal writes. “He looked healthy in the playoffs when he returned, but it’s fair to have concerns about how his body will hold up over the grind of a full regular season and playoffs next year.”
Dayal goes on.
“Even if Kane does stay healthy, his lack of foot speed, lack of play-driving ability, penchant for undisciplined penalties, and so-so defensive play mean that he ideally wouldn’t be a full-time top-six winger for a contending team such as the Oilers,” Dayal writes.
When you put it like that, Kane definitely sounds overpriced.
“With all of those question marks in mind, trading Kane would be one of the most straightforward ways for the cap-strapped Oilers to open up some money, with Evan Bouchard’s massive next contract looming,” Dayal writes. “Kane only has partial trade protection (a 16-team trade list), so his contract would be easier to move than Viktor Arvidsson’s or Adam Henrique’s, who both own full no-movement clauses.”
That all checks out. The biggest question mark is what team would want to trade for Kane.
But given the NHL’s rising salary cap, there’ll likely be a squad out there that feels it could use Kane. He wouldn’t cost much in a trade.
Otherwise, Edmonton may wind up paying just a bit more than it’d like to keep the declining Kane around in 2025-26.
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