Evander Kane has enjoyed some of the best years of his 15 seasons in the NHL, with the Edmonton Oilers. After various controversies both on and off the ice in previous stops, he has mostly been a model citizen during his time in Northern Alberta. (In fact any adversity in Edmonton has essentially been much ado about nothing, mostly hyped up by the media.)
Despite this, it would appear that Kane's days with the Oilers are now numbered, at least according to Sportnet's Elliotte Friedman. During Saturday's edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast, Friedman said there were rumours that the polarising winger had been asked to waive the no-movement clause contained in his contract.
This effectively means that the Oilers have decided it is better for the team to move forward without Kane. As much as they would likely prefer to keep him around in an ideal world, back in reality there are just too many factors which go against such a scenario.
Money talks as always
As per Cap Friendly, the Oilers only have $12,933,333 of projected cap space available for the 2024-25 campaign as things stand, but with plenty of holes to fill on their roster. Removing Kane's cap hit of $5.125 million for each of the next two seasons, would undoubtedly help.
Kane's age of 32 goes against him, but perhaps most compelling of all is his issues with a sports hernia throughout the 2023-24 season. This came to a head when he played in the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final.
The 2009 fourth overall draft pick was largely effective in games one and two versus the Florida Panthers as a result of his sports hernia, to the point where he was actually a liability. (He only played 10:33 in game two, but still accrued a -3 rating.) The way the Oilers performed the rest of the series without him in the lineup, likely convinced the organisation he was no longer necessary for them to survive and prosper.
Some of the best moments of Kane's career
This doesn't make it any less of a shame that Kane will likely not be back in Edmonton for next season, given how effective he's been generally during his time with the Oilers. This includes a career-best +25 rating in 2021-22, while picking up the scoring slack earlier this season when everyone else was struggling -- including even the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl -- and leading the team with 250 hits for the campaign as a whole.
As per the aforementioned no-movement clause, Kane at least has some control over what the future holds for him. As such, it is imperative the Oilers convince him to waive his clause to open us the possibilities when it comes to trading him.
This could be easier said than done, just because the Vancouver native has repeatedly said how much he likes living in Edmonton, with it representing a period of his life when he has matured both on and off the ice. However, if your team no longer wants you -- even if this is a result of a need rather than a desire -- maybe it's best to just accept it's over and move on.