Evander Kane has bitter comments about demotion from coach Knoblauch

Although the Oilers have been riding high off the backs of two lengthy winning streaks since their coaching change, the team still isn't at the full strength with the recent struggles of their now third line winger, Evander Kane. Coach Knoblauch has demoted Kane to the third line since his play has been declining and has stuck to it. Now, Kane is biting his tongue when asked about his limited opportunities.

Kane was brought in to the Oilers with full knowledge of some of his personal problems, but also his elite level talent. With the ability to score 30 goals and be a punishing physical presence, Kane could be one of the most critical elements to the Oilers success. Instead, dealing with a nagging groin injury has made him less effective, and now he may even be questioning the decisions from the coach.

When asked by Mark Spector in a recent article for Sportsnet, Kane was reluctant to comment on his consistently reduced ice time. He clearly alluded to being upset with the demotion, but was knowledgeable enough to hold back his true thoughts.





Kane seems to be stomaching the demotion, but clearly isn't happy about it. Hopefully, he sees that there is merit in the limited ice time, and he can get back to his full strength game and help the Oilers as best as he can again. If his injury is truly holding him back, at this point, the rest of the team could hold themselves to a playoff spot without him, and Kane could miss some time to heal up. It would certainly be a better outcome than Kane slowly becoming bitter about his reduced ice time.

The full interview with Mark Spector can be found here:

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/oilers-knoblauch-trying-to-find-opportunity-for-underused-evander-kane/