Oilers GM updates Evander Kane's status on the team heading into next season

Evander Kane is one player who has been a huge question mark for the Oilers coming into 2024-25. The Oilers have had relative health in terms of man games lost over the past couple seasons, but one player who has seemingly bounced on and off IR has been Evander Kane. On OilersNow today with Bob Stauffer, General Manager Stan Bowman said that within the next week and a half, the Oilers will know the status of Kane's injury for the upcoming season.

Kane was rumoured to be starting the season on LT-IR, with a chance at being out the whole season. You never pray for a player to be injured, but it is true that Kane's $5.125M cap hit could be better used when spent on other players. Fans will know about Kane's availability soon, and if the Oilers will be expecting a little bit of cap relief from Kane being put on the shelf.

Kane is a great player, but has struggled with injuries. He's a power forward that isn't afraid to get into the dirty areas, and loves the physicality of the game. He always plays with heart, but unfortunately has seen a drop off in production. His hitting and fighting will always be very important to the team, but he needs to score points to justify his high cap hit.

Kane has the ability to produce at a high level, but is very streaky with his scoring. He started the season off incredibly hot, scoring 16 points in 17 games. Kane ended up finishing with only 44 points in 77 games, but if he can return to the scoring pace he was on less than a year ago then he could still be very useful to the team.

It's up in the air how Kane is rehabbing from his sports hernia injury, which would be a multi-month recovery from the surgery. It'll be interesting to see how Kane is doing in the official announcement, and if the Oilers have more cap space to utilize as they push for a cup.

Source for Salaries and Stats: PuckPedia - Evander Kane