Evander Kane's commitment to Oilers complicates matters

There's been a lot of different information and speculation doing the rounds in the past couple of months, regarding Evander Kane. For example, while he previously said he dealt with a sports hernia throughout this past season, the Oilers apparently believed -- at least more recently -- that it was a hip injury which was causing him issues.

There was a report that the Oilers were planning to trade Kane at some point during this offseason. However, other speculation indicated they were going to put him on Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) for the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign.

It's at times been tough to determine what to believe, or at least know how all of this was going to play out. However, as has been the case throughout Kane's 15 seasons in the NHL, it's never dull.

Still, the question remains as to what the future holds for the polarising 33-year-old? Well, we may finally have some indication, at least according to the 2 Mutts Hockey Podcast.

Before continuing, we do appreciate that such a podcast may not sound particularly reputable. However, it's worth noting they did recently report the Oilers' decision to hire Stan Bowman before it became official.

Kane isn't going anywhere

In any event, the 2 Mutts Hockey Podcast have shared some news via social media, with us particularly interested in what they had to report about Kane. More specifically, that he will be ready for training camp and will take part in the Captain Skates in early September.

If true, this would allude to the winger's injury issues not being as bad as perceived, no matter what he's dealing with. As a result, as per sources for the 2 Mutts Hockey Podcast, the plan is not for him to go on LTIR.

Further, despite speculation that the likes of the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks are apparently interested in Kane, he has no interest in waiving his no-movement clause (NMC). He and his family want to remain in Edmonton, where he has finally found somewhere he can call home, having settled into the local community.

Certainly this makes sense, with the Vancouver native finally maturing and having found himself in nowhere near as much trouble during his time in Edmonton. As we've wrote previously, all the perceived drama from this past season was much ado about nothing, with it usually being the media who were twisting and embellishing any incidents involving him.

An unintentional complication

In this respect though, Kane's desire to remain in Edmonton is going to unintentionally cause some complications for the Oilers, when considering another report in the same social media post from the 2 Mutts Hockey Podcast. More specifically, that Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg are both expected to sign two-year deal very soon, with respective Annual Average Values (AAV) of $1.3 million and $1.1 million.

In terms of the further complications, consider that at the time of writing the Oilers have a cap space of $-354,167 and with 21 of 23 active roster spots filled, as per PuckPedia. Provisionally add Holloway and Broberg's deals, and the cap space deficit grows to $-2,754,167.

How this pertains to Kane, is his contract, which has two years remaining at an AAV of $5.125 million. If he was traded or put on LTIR, this would help put the Oilers in a more positive position with their salary cap for 2024-25.

Instead, again assuming all of the information from the 2 Mutts Hockey Podcast is true, the Oilers still have some financial complications to contend with. As a result they will need to move at least one player, with Cody Ceci and his $3.25 million contract for this next season still a prime candidate.

Overall, it can turn out to be a positive for the Oilers if Kane sticks around, as long as he can return to his previous productive form, to go along with his antagonistic ways towards opponents. At the same time it does cause another headache for the front office, thus giving Bowan more work to do in his efforts to win over a hostile fan base which never wanted him hired in the first place.

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