As the Edmonton Oilers reel in the wake of another Stanley Cup final loss, focus turns to what went wrong and roster changes.
While most of Edmonton’s lineup will almost assuredly be back next season, one player in particular stands out as someone likely to be traded: left winger Evander Kane.
The 33-year-old had a decent-enough post-season, posting six goals and 12 points in 21 playoff games. That’s an improvement on his 2024 playoff production of four goals and eight points in 20 games, when he played through an injury. The problem, though, is Kane’s discipline.
This year, he accrued 44 minutes in penalties in the playoffs. Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand had more on the Panthers, with 48, but they also had 10 and eight more points, respectively, and they drew more penalties. Kane drew four penalties and took 14 for a league-worst minus-10 net penalty count.
His high penalty minutes in the playoffs aren’t new. In 2024, Kane was assessed 37 minutes in playoff penalties, and in 2023, he amassed 46 penalty minutes. Clearly, he has a problem staying out of the sin bin. And that’s the kind of issue that the Oilers will likely pinpoint when they’re looking at making changes.
Kane’s current salary runs for one more year at $5.125 million. He does have a modified no-trade clause that allows him to veto a deal to 15 teams, but that leaves 16 teams Oilers GM Stan Bowman can trade Kane to. You’d have to think there are other GMs out there who believe they can iron out the wrinkles in Kane as an asset and make him less prone to taking penalties.
Kane played six years in Atlanta/Winnipeg before he was traded to Buffalo in 2015. After that, he played three years with the Sabres before he was shipped off to San Jose in 2018. Then, he played four years with the Sharks before signing with the Oilers in 2022. And now, he’s lasted four seasons in Edmonton. So his “best before” date with the Oilers has probably arrived.
Bowman should be able to get something decent for Kane in a trade. But the key things in any Kane transaction are (a) opening up his salary cap space, at least some of which is likely to go to star defenseman Evan Bouchard, and (b) becoming a more-disciplined team in his absence. In any Cup final where the difference between winning and losing is minuscule, the Oilers don’t need Kane consistently being penalized. And Kane’s offensive impact isn’t so imposing as to have Edmonton coaching and management look the other way when it comes to taking penalties.
The Oilers are locked in with many, if not most, of their veteran players. They’re not moving superstar centers Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. They’re also not moving stellar forwards Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman. Thus, there are only a few options who can be moved to address Edmonton’s needs moving forward.
That’s why Kane stands out as an asset who can be moved this summer. If he brings back a promising prospect or high-end draft pick in any trade to prolong Edmonton’s competitive window, that will be solid work done by Bowman. But whether the Oilers trade him or not, they can’t afford to get penalized to the point where they get notably hurt by it.
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