This past Thursday the rumours became reality – Evander Kane is part of the Edmonton Oilers for the rest of the season.
Through a complicated mathematical formula, it looks like the Kane deal – which includes a base salary plus a signing bonus – is worth $2,108,696. Check out the aforementioned link for CapFriendly next to Kane’s name for the formula if statistics are a passion of yours. To make room for him on the roster, the Edmonton Oilers have waived defensive specialist C/RW Colton Sceviour.
I’m going to make a bold statement here and say this is by far the riskiest deal in franchise history – more on that later in the blog.
It’s not so much the financials or the talent level of the player. He said all the right things in the press conference for those of you who didn’t watch it yet, but only time will tell if this roll of the dice is going to work.
After all, Kane has had a huge rap sheet that’s dogged him from early on in his NHL career. In his three previous stops in Buffalo, Winnipeg, and San Jose, there have been rumours of everything from serious crimes like illegal gambling, domestic abuse to forged vaccination credentials. Then there’s the more minor stuff – being a cancer in the locker room behind closed doors, showing up late for practices, conflicts with teammates.
In his defense, he alluded to seeing a therapist for the gambling, and it’s also worth noting that the domestic abuse allegations are likely false considering that Kane actually got custody of his kids in his divorce, something that a judge in divorce court would be unlikely to do if the allegations were actually true. He’s also been cleared of the charges of faking his vaccination card, which is what allowed the Oilers to sign him in the first place.
The media is a fickle beast. Sometimes things are reported that turn out to be false, and things that are true don’t turn up in the story. We’ve seen this several times in sports.
Personally, I wouldn’t have made this move if I were Ken Holland. After all, giving someone a second chance is one thing, but with Kane it’s more like a fourth or fifth chance. But, I’m not the GM of the Edmonton Oilers, Ken Holland is. He said in the aforementioned press conference for his part that he did due diligence on the player by talking to a lot of people before making the move.
Dr. Phil says that the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour. Whether that’s true or not is up for debate, but there’s no question Kane comes to Edmonton with more baggage than a commercial airline flight.
The million dollar question, in the end, is this:
How will it all turn out for the team?
The way I see it, there’s only two possible ways this could go.
It Goes Bad
If Kane hasn’t learned from his past mistakes, he’ll find himself alienating the fans here, probably booed every time he touches the puck for the rest of the season. Chances are if he repeats the same mistakes he made before, he’ll alienate his teammates too.
Ultimately he becomes a distraction to the team, it craters their season, and Ken Holland looks like an idiot for taking a chance on a guy who is revealed to be a great player but a horrible human being.
Maybe in this hypothetical Bob Nicholson might even fire him, because after all the bucks stops at the GM for all the moves he makes. Not only do the Edmonton Oilers not win a playoff series, they don’t make the playoffs at all, falling well short of team expectations.
It Goes Good
The other way this plays out is Kane has learned from his past mistakes. He gets ample playing time with either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl (maybe both), and if he puts up 30-40 points in the half season he is here I think everyone will be pretty happy with that production.
He becomes yet another weapon at forward on a team loaded with talent in the top six. As we saw in the Montreal game, it also allows Dave Tippett options for better depth in the bottom six ranks. Kane then proceeds to get involved in the community, his physical power forward playing style endears himself to fans, and he gets to learn what it’s like being in Edmonton when the team wins.
He becomes a positive force in the top six and helps the team to a winning streak, propelling them into the playoffs where they make it at least to the second round, maybe even winning a cup as an underdog. Ken Holland looks like a genius for giving the guy a fourth chance.
After the season is done Kane basks in the redemption and he can once again set his sights on a big money contract, because teams are more apt to take a chance on him now that he’s kept his nose clean here in Edmonton. He’s likely burned his bridges in Buffalo, Winnipeg, and San Jose, but you can bet almost all the other teams will be clamouring to sign him.
Would he come back to Edmonton in this scenario? If he signed for maybe $5 million or less and the Oilers can move some cap space around in a salary dump (Zack Kassian, I’m looking in your direction), then they might be able to make it work.
However, it seems unlikely the Edmonton Oilers would have the cap space to bring him back unless he comes back on another bargain basement contract. Even then, at least we’ve had him for this season at least.
Rangers Craig MacTavish (14) sends Vancouver’s Martin Gelinas (23) flying during game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals at Madison Square Garden June 14, 1994. The Rangers won the game 3-2 and the Stanley Cup.Rangers Win Stanley Cup /
Historical Parallels
There’s actually historical parallels here as Craig MacTavish made his way to the Oilers by way of a free agent signing. MacT, as a young man, enjoyed the spoils of an NHL salary by purchasing a sports car. Unfortunately, as young men are prone to do, MacT thought he was invincible and went driving in his fancy sports car in the early 80s, naturally at a high rate of speed and worst yet, drunk.
That night ended in disaster for him as he ended up getting into a terrible car crash that ended up injuring a young woman who died in hospital four days later from the injuries sustained. MacT was charged with vehicular homicide and actually spent the entire 84-85 season in jail for the charge.
He experienced great remorse for what he did, eventually ending up apologizing profusely to the family in Boston and even remaining in contact with them to this day.
Anyway, then-Oilers GM Glen Sather asked then-Bruins GM Harry Sinden to let MacT out of his contract with the Bruins as he felt MacTavish needed a fresh start in another city, with the memories of that night haunting him forever had he stayed in Boston.
Sinden agreed and MacT was soon signed by Sather to come to the Edmonton Oilers. The rest, as they say, is hockey history as MacT became a legendary bottom six forward for the Oilers during their dynasty years in the 80s, and then was traded to New York at the 1994 trade deadline where he would go on to win another Cup with the Rangers.
Say what you will about MacT’s coaching and management careers, but there’s no question that as a player he paid the Oilers back in spades for the second chance Sather got him – in life and in hockey.
Will history repeat itself with Ken Holland and Evander Kane today? Hard to say, but let’s hope so.
light. Related Story. Evander Kane to Sign With Edmonton Oilers
Shameless plug time
Did you know that superstar ex-Oiler Mark Messier recently wrote an autobiography? I got it for Christmas and finished it a few weeks ago.
It’s called “No one wins alone” and speaks of Messier’s childhood, with thoughts of moving around a lot due to his dad’s hockey career, eventually settling into St. Albert, his early career, leadership, winning his first five cups with the Oilers, the aftermath of the Gretzky trade, his own trade to the Rangers and subsequent ’94 cup win, his time in Vancouver (spoiler alert – it’s different than what was reported in the media at the time….), his return to the Rangers and eventual retirement.
Next. State of the Edmonton Oilers Franchise Address- Halfway Mark. dark
