In the understatement to end all understatements, it's been an eventful season for Evander Kane. One of the more colourful characters in the NHL, he has been involved in a variety of talking points.
This includes comments made during interviews, perceived heated exchanges with teammates, and apparent discipline disguised as a maintenance day. In defence of Kane though, you can make the case that each of these scenarios were much ado about nothing, being hyped up and/or misinterpreted purely because of his history.
In reality, the 32-year-old has mostly stayed out of trouble during his time in Edmonton, at least by his standards. He has always been grateful to the Oilers for giving him another chance, with him seeming to finally grow up and do things such as get involved in the local community.
Kane misses Sharks game
Still, because it's Kane, any news involving him will always be prone to extra scrutiny, even if it's not somehow related to his perceived behaviour or attitude. Case in point, the decision to sit him for Monday night's clash with his previous team, the San Jose Sharks.
As per Sportsnet, Oiler coach Kris Knoblauch confirmed the winger was being given a maintenance day to allow more time to rest and heal, but that he would have dressed if it was a playoff game. There was no indication if the undisclosed issue was related to the lingering injury Kane has been contending with for the majority of the 2023-24 campaign.
In fairness to the 2009 fourth overall draft pick, he has been playing fine of late. Consider that he has produced five overall points -- three goals and two assists -- in his past five games.
At the same time though, Kane has struggled to be as consistently productive as his first two campaigns in Edmonton. While the 44 points are his most in his time with the Oilers, this works out to 0.57 points per game, compared to 0.91 and 0.68 respectively during his previous two seasons with the team.
The Vancouver, British Columbia native is additionally averaging his lowest ice time in his time with the Oilers, at 16:47 per contest. This is incidentally also his lowest ice time since he averaged 14:00 during his rookie season back in 2009-10.
This in part relates to Kane being unable to build up a sustainable chemistry with Leon Draisaitl, on the second line. As a result, the polarising player has spent more time in the bottom six as the season has progressed, leading to understandable frustration.
Ultimately, the mercurial talent will be available to play when the stakes are raised, with him previously proving what he can do with 17 points -- including a team-high 13 goals -- in 15 games during the Oilers' playoff run following the 2021-22 regular season. Whether the team gets this productive and team-focused version of Kane, is what fans are really wondering about, as opposed to being worried about any injury problems.