The Edmonton Oilers entered last summer with a clear cap crunch. After losing in the Stanley Cup Finals for a second year in a row, the club needed to make a major shakeup with their roster construction as multiple players were under expiring contracts and new deals were kicking in.
Leon Draisaitl had signed his contract extension a year early, showing his confidence and commitment to the Oilers and the city of Edmonton moving forward. The future Olympic athlete had signed an eight-year contract worth $118 million, making him set to become the highest paid player at the time.
As well, star defenceman Evan Bouchard had an expiring contract and with extensions needed for other core pieces soon like Connor McDavid and Mattias Ekholm, the Oilers needed to clear up their payroll.
One way they did this was by trading forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Evander Kane to the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks, respectively. The moves helped shed over $9 million in salary cap room and the Oilers received a fifth and fourth round pick from the two trades, meaning that even despite their hefty price tags, the club received positive value and did not have to retain any money.
This is what some would call a tidy piece of business for Oilers general manager Stan Bowman to pull off. It is even more noteworthy because it appears that the Canucks are trying to move Kane but are struggling to, even attempting to dump him back on the Oilers.
Canucks struggling to move Evander Kane
In his prime, Kane was a skilled powerforward, capable of scoring 25-30 goals a season and over 50 points, while throwing the body around. There have been underlying off-ice issues that have followed the forward around his whole career but on the ice, he was undeniably a useful top-six piece.
Now, at 34 years old and after missing the entirety of the 2024-25 regular season, Kane has clearly taken a step back. He is not hitting as much and his scoring pace has dipped as he currently has only nine goals and 25 points in 55 games with the Canucks.
He is on the final year of his contract carrying a $5.125 million cap hit, making him quite difficult for many teams to squeeze onto their payroll. According to NHL insider Nick Kypreos on his latest trade board, the Canucks are even willing to retain on his contract for a team to take him on. The Canucks have also allowed his agent, Dan Milstein to work with other teams around the league to sort out a trade.
The fact that Bowman was able to dump his deal before he really hit his struggles and get an asset for him under the circumstances at the time was quite commendable. Now, only a few months later he definitely deserves his flowers for making the move when he did.
Although Bowman did sign Andrew Mangiapane, which the Oilers seem to be having some of the same issues trying to offload his deal too.