Evander Kane speaks to the media at the last full practice before the Edmonton Oilers begin their series against the Los Angeles Kings.
Evander Kane speaks to the media at the last full practice before the Edmonton Oilers begin their series against the Los Angeles Kings.
EDMONTON -- It is the eve of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs for the Edmonton Oilers.
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Before they face off against the Los Angeles Kings, they had one final full practice before game one tomorrow night. They were without Evander Kane and Mattias Janmark at yesterday's practice - but both forwards were on the ice taking part today.
The lines at practice definitely makes things a bit murky for game one. The last two lines in the rotation could both be a fourth line for the Oilers. It's entirely possible for it to go either way.
Adding fuel to that particular fire however, are the comments that Kane made in his media availability after practice.
In speaking with the media in attendance, he revealed exactly how he has been feeling, "it's been nice to finally get some rest. I've been dealing with a sports hernia all year."
"So it [was] just getting worse and worse so I thought it would be good to take a week off before the playoffs and see how [good] I can feel."
Well that certainly explains a few things. It explains why his performance hasn't been great for a large chunk of the year. It's fair to assume that he suffered the injury around the game 21/22 mark of the season. In the first 21 games he had 20 points - he collected 23 points over the remaining 56 games.
As for the parts of his game that were affected - Kane went into a bit of detail about that, "it doesn't affect my shoulder or my upper body to a degree. Anybody who's had that type of injury understands that it's more skating, quickness and agility and quick movements that can really affect you."
"Which I wasn't aware of until I dealt with it."
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But what exactly is a sports hernia?
First of all, a sports hernia is also referred to as - athletic pubalgia. It is completely different than an actual hernia. When a part of your body squeezes out of a weak spot of your muscle, that's a typical hernia.
According to WebMD an athletic pubalgia is when a ligament, tendon or muscle in your lower stomach or groin area is torn or strained. A lot of twisting, kicking, jumping, weak abdominal muscles and a major difference in strength between your hips muscles and ab muscles are some of the causes of this core injury.
Kris Knoblauch seemed positive that Kane would dress for game one. We wait until tomorrow to see what the official word is.
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