There was an intriguing trade made in the National Hockey League on Wednesday, as the Edmonton Oilers traded Evander Kane of Vancouver, British Columbia to the Vancouver Canucks. In return, the Oilers will receive a fourth round draft pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft according to Tyler Kuehl of oilersnation.com.
Fifth NHL franchise
The Canucks will be Kane’s fifth National Hockey League team. He has previously played six seasons with the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets organization from 2009 to 2015 (two seasons in Atlanta before the franchise moved to Winnipeg where Kane spent four seasons with the Jets), three seasons with the Buffalo Sabres from 2015 to 2018, four seasons with the San Jose Sharks from 2018 to 2021, and four seasons with the Edmonton Oilers from 2021 to 2025.
Injury issues in 2024-25
Kane did not play a regular season game with the Oilers in 2024-25 due to numerous injuries. They included surgeries on his adductor muscles, hernias, abdominal muscles and knee.
Outstanding Stanley Cup Playoff
When Kane did return in the 2024-25 season, he was simply exceptional, and had a significant contribution to the Oilers reaching the Stanley Cup Finals. In 21 games, Kane had six goals and six assists for 12 points. He was a +4 with 44 penalty minutes, one power-play point, 47 shots on goal, 12 faceoff wins, seven blocked shots, three takeaways, and 23 giveaways. Kane’s power-play point was an assist on a goal by defenseman John Klingberg of Gothenburg, Sweden in a 6-1 Oilers win over the Dallas Stars on May 25 in game three of the Western Conference Final. At the time, the Oilers had a two games to one series lead.
Elite offensive player with physical presence
The Vancouver Canucks fan base should be thrilled with the addition of Kane. Twice he has scored 30 goals in a season (2011-12 in Winnipeg and 2018-19 in San Jose). In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Kane exemplified why he has physicality to his game. He had 95 hits, which was fourth in the playoffs. Kane was only behind Oilers teammates Zach Hyman of Toronto, Ontario (111 hits) and Vasily Podkolzin of Moscow, Russia (100 hits), and Conn Smythe Trophy winner and Florida Panthers centre Sam Bennett of Holland Landing, Ontario (107 hits).
What is the concern?
There are two areas of Kane’s game which is disconcerning. The first is his discipline. Many of the 44 minutes in penalties Kane took in the Stanley Cup playoffs were dumb two minute minor infractions. The penalties were escalated due to the fact the Oilers struggled in penalty killing. The second was the fact that Kane was inconsistent at times in the playoffs. He only had one point in six Stanley Cup Finals games against Florida.
