There has long been a suspicion that Evander Kane would not be available for the Edmonton Oilers for the entire 2024-25 regular season. This suspicion has now become a reality, with the team officially announcing on Friday that he will indeed miss the remainder of this regular season.
The Oilers confirmed the news via a statement. As per NHL.com, it said: "After further consultation with team medical staff, it has been determined that forward Evander Kane will not be ready to return to action for the remainder of the 2024-25 regular season. As a result, he will remain on LTIR (long-term injured reserve)."
As has often been the case during his NHL career Kane managed to remain in the headlines, despite not actually playing since Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final last season against the Florida Panthers. Among the news and speculation surrounding the polarising winger, was whether he could be moved prior to the Mar. 7 NHL trade deadline.
This was in part due to a change in Kane's contract on Mar. 1, with him going from a full no-movement clause to needing to submit a 16-team trade list to the Oilers. In the end however, this did not come to fruition, which would make sense if other teams were also made aware he would not be available to return to action until the playoffs.
Evander Kane will be like a new player for the Oilers
On this subject, there had been some wonder if Kane would be held out until the playoffs anyway, in order to free up his $5.125 million cap hit for this season almost as 'bonus' money to help reinforce the team before the trade deadline. In any event, the Oilers should essentially view him almost like a a new addition, assuming he is indeed ready for action come playoff time.
In this respect, the whole sequence of events came about as a result of Kane playing all of last season with a hernia issue, before finally undergoing abdominal surgery last September. The procedure turned out to be a success, and the Oilers have advised his rehabilitation continues to take place under the supervision of the club's medical staff.
Assuming Kane is indeed ready for the playoffs, the Oilers will certainly get the benefit of a fresh player who will help them immensely with his physicality - an area where the team has been sadly lacking this season. He also has an innate ability to get under the skin of opponents, while being a talented player who knows how to step up in the playoffs.
Still uncertainty over when Evander Kane will actually play again
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch is hopeful Kane will be back sooner than later come playoff time, but acknowledges there are still no certainties at this point. Also as per NHL.com, he said: "I do expect him to be back at some point; we don’t exactly know when that will be. It’s not going to be in the regular season. Will it be at the start of the playoffs? I don’t know. If we can play long enough, he’ll definitely be back playing for us this year."
Whatever does happen, Kane will have one season year left on his current deal once the 2024-25 season concludes. During his 15 seasons in the NHL he has produced 617 points in 930 games, including 111 in 161 regular season contests for the Oilers, along with another 30 points in 47 playoff appearances during his time in Edmonton.
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