In recent weeks the Edmonton Oilers fans and media have seen a couple of altercations with Evander Kane and his teammates. First was Kane and Draisaitl on the bench having what was visually heated. In the Calgary Flames game, Kane was involved in another animated incident, this time with Corey Perry.
moments after the big scrum at the end of the second, corey perry remained pretty upset, slamming the bench door.
— zach (@zjlaing) April 7, 2024
then, he has a cordial conversation with evander kane. pic.twitter.com/gHS8fE2YFO
As you can see in the above video Corey Perry was very upset with Evander Kane. This is coming from what is best guessed in a play just before this when the Oilers were cycling the puck down low and maintaining good possession of the puck. Then for no reason Kane just threw the puck out in front of the net. There was no one there, so it was a giveaway.
Perry was upset because the Oilers had been maintaining possession and there was no reason to turn the puck over like that. Perry was right because when it comes to playoffs Kane can not be making plays like that. I know Kane is a tough player but I wonder if patience is running thin on Kane from his teammates.
Having one incident once every couple of months on a team would be normal, but the fact there have been two in the past couple of weeks and they both involve the same player. Put in the history of Kane forcing his way out of teams due to a reported locker room issue. Could this be what is happening to Kane and the Oilers?
"That’s how you win. You hold everybody accountable, you push everybody's buttons. You do whatever you have to do to get the best out of everybody."
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 8, 2024
Corey Perry shares his thoughts after a Monday practice at @RogersPlace.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/gR6ANLqVeK
During their post-practice interviews yesterday both Perry and Kane talked about what happened. It was blown out of proportion by everyone. It was just Perry trying to get Kane to play a smarter game. I love to see things like this. You play for your team so your team should expect you to play for them.
Corey Perry is the only player on the Oilers to ever win a cup and he has gone to a couple more Stanley Cup finals since then as well. He knows what needs to be done to get there as a team and he lets his teammates know that it isn't easy and that you need to play smart all game.
The fire the Oilers are showing now to get this team running perfectly is a good sign that this team is ready to go on a deep run. The fact they are holding each other accountable is just what you want to see down the stretch and into the start of the playoffs. This team will need to play nearly perfect hockey to win the cup and it starts with the players.