There's been more than enough storylines to keep Edmonton Oilers fans entertained/distracted this season. These include the team starting a campaign slowly again, Stuart Skinner still struggling for consistency, Jeff Skinner looking like an underwhelming offseason signing, Zach Hyman regressing significantly, and Evan Bouchard making far too many unnecessary mistakes.
Another storyline which has been around all season is the status of Evander Kane, and more specifically when he is likely to return to action for the Oilers. When we previously wrote about this last month, the indication was that he was on track to begin playing again early next year.
Well, now it seems that this projection was slightly optimistic. Giving due credit to Liam McCormick of Oilers Daily, the latest update from Bob Stauffer is not so encouraging. The Oilers Now host has indicated that Kane will now not return until March, and that's at the earliest.
Some concerns for Oilers fans
Now we appreciate that there are plenty of fans and media alike, who will not be happy with this turn of event, for at least two reasons. The first being that this compromises the Oilers if they wish to attempt to move Kane, with the trade deadline being on Mar. 7.
The second reason is that the revamped timeline gives less opportunities for Kane to get enough action to be ready for the playoffs. The regular season concludes on Apr. 16 , and while this sounds like plenty of time for the winger, it must be reiterated that Stauffer said he would be ready to return in March at the earliest.
However, we'd like to turn this around and look at the potential positives to come out of Kane coming back later than previously anticipated. And it all centres around him currently being on long-term injured reserve (LTIR).
A potential financial positive
As per PuckPedia, Kane's salary of $5.125 million is also allocated to LTIR, which gives the Oilers temporary additional financial help if they so choose to utilise it. And certainly an extra $5.125 million does help in any attempt to strengthen the roster, with the team only having just under $1.214 million of cap space available at the time of writing.
Now if Kane returns to the roster anytime before the conclusion of the 2024-25 regular season, the Oilers have to make sure they pay back/cover any of the additional $5.125 million used. However, if he doesn't return until the playoffs, the team does not need to worry about any extra money used.
We appreciate that it won't necessarily be this straightforward, even if Kane does return later than March. For example, if he is ready to come back at the beginning of April, it's conceivable he'd want to use the remaining nine regular season games to get back into game shape, rather than helping the team out by staying on LTIR until the playoffs.
At the same time, we do know that Kane has never been as settled in his NHL career as since he arrived in Edmonton, and feels a debt of gratitude to the organisation. With this in mind, perhaps he would do the Oilers a solid and wait until the playoffs to return.
No matter how long Kane has been out, you would like to think he hasn't lost the knack for his approach to the game, which includes winding up opponents and bringing some much-needed physicality to the Oilers. As a final note, let's also consider that he would be fresh, having not suffered the wear and tear associated with a gruelling regular season.