He also mentioned that the team does not accrue any cap space while being on LTIR. The debate about Cain and his injury to his hip has been ongoing throughout this summer. At the beginning of the offseason Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson reported that several doctors and therapists have been consulted on what to do with his hip and many feel that surgery will be required to fix the problem.
Kane's game has declined drastically throughout last season, and many had wondered what the issue was. There seems to be a difference of opinion between Kane's camp and Jackson's camp on how to continue.
If Kane went to long term injury reserve, it would free up over $5,000,000 in cap space but with the time crunch in place, there was no way they would have put him on that position to attempt to keep either Broberg or Holloway.