Oilers odds and ends
By Phil Gretzky
A couple of weeks ago we received word of Evander Kane’s settlement – and it’s the best we could’ve hoped for as it’s win-win-win for everyone involved.
Essentially the Sharks have paid Kane $2.5 million, the difference between the deal he signed with the Oilers and his old $6,333,333 per season cap hit with the Sharks.
The NHL has already retroactively penalized the Sharks against last season’s cap, so they don’t incur cap recapture penalties.
Meanwhile Kane’s contract with the Oilers isn’t voided and he gets to play where he chose to play in the offseason rather than in the gong show of San Jose, a city with whom he had a messy divorce last season and probably didn’t relish the idea of going back to what is essentially a losing team that still needs to play out some bad contracts on the blueline.
Meanwhile the Oilers get to keep their man and Kane gets a top-up of $2.5 million to his salary.
Another benefit to San Jose – they won’t have to worry about what to do with a player who is forced to play for them who clearly didn’t want to be there. That would’ve only compounded the complete mess the Sharks are in and probably would’ve doubled the consumption of GM Mike Grier’s drink of choice.
The arbitrator clearly knew what he/she was doing.
Congratulations to Evander Kane – he’s probably relieved the whole ordeal is over.