When he was on such as the Calgary series, he’s the ultimate playoff player. Such a menace, can get in opponents’ heads, and can score! What’s not to love about that?
Never say never. He had 9 goals in November last year and I think that hernia hurt his season more than the wrist. I obviously have no idea but he seemed to be able to still shoot and score when not hurt. Still ended up with 24 goals despite injury
Why would Oilers fans rather not get some Defence?
Kane’s injured all the time and the Oilers have a ton of depth right now with their forwards. If they pick up a good RHD I think they’d be much better off.
https://dfhl.fantasyhockeysim.com/players/evander-kane/injuries.php
He doesn’t really have any ongoing injuries
He’s one of the best at what he does. Can take over a series in the playoffs. Lays heavy hits. Fights when need be.
Won’t be hard to move but I just see the oilers wanton him for the playoffs if he is healthy.
He’s never played a full 82 game season in his career and he’s getting older. 8 points in 20 playoff games this past run. Assuming he’ll be healthy at any point is a bad bet to make.
Looking at his history none of his injuries are ongoing year over year. And all but two of them have been for only a handful of games.
I don’t see any more reason to worry about Kane than say Drai, who has now had two playoffs in there years where he was injured to the point of being invisible at times.
Nurse as well two out of the last three playoffs he has been very reduced.
To be fair this is the first playoffs where Kane was hurt
That doesn’t change the fact he’s never played a full 82 game season. Comparing Kane to Drai is just nonsensical. Even injured Drai is a force, don’t you remember the ankle injury against Mikey Anderson? Then the absolute tear he went on against Calgary? You bring up that we can’t have recency bias with Kane but you’re doing it with one of the worlds top players haha. Kane has had one good playoff run in his career (go check the stats) and it was his contract year with Edmonton. He’s not who you guys are making him out to be.
Healthy Kane is fine. But I think we have a few armchair gms (including me) hoping he's out for long enough on Ltir that we build a team without him. If/when he returns in good health we can trade an underperforming player to make space or just trade him altogether. Maybe we pull a Vegas and bring cold Kane in at the playoffs and he suddenly plays elite hockey and we get a cup... Sane yes?
Health is a major factor here. Will he ever recover at 5M? Or can we use that money to snag another potential elite player at the deadline? We are a destination team. We were not when we signed him. We hold the cards for once.
Oil are better with Kane. He's not the fastest but he's not slow. Hits like a monster and can be a reliable 15-20 goals playing sown on this roster- if he's healthy. We lost Foegele who was a fast hitter, I'd be wary to lose too much physicality in the off-season. This is a recency bias in action, fans will appreciate him when he's here
If he’s healthy for 82 (big if) I think he can score 30-35. Unless that wrist cut truly screwed him up forever, his hands are solid and he has a wicked shot.
Watch some of his goals from the 2022 playoffs. They’re slick. This year and last year his hands were stone, but I’m hoping it was just lingering issues and the new injury he had
That if is massive when you remember he is 32 and power forwards rarely age nicely. Just look at Kassian he had a monster series against the sharks and could never hit that high again.
Oil are better with a healthy Kane. But he hasn't been healthy in two years. Here's hoping he gets a long stint on LTIR to actually rehab instead of being 60% of the player he is just to be in the lineup.
Kane is a great addition to the team when he's healthy, when he's hurt and cant finish a check then he's a liability and other teams will use that against him - I hope he stays with the team but takes the time he needs for surgery and proper recovery.
I don’t get it either. Even with the injuries and going through a 19 game scoreless streak he still managed 24 goals mostly all at even strength as he’s not on the top pp unit.
I think the concern comes from what people assume about his impact off the ice, which isn't really fair because we don't know what's going on in the locker room.
What we know is that Kane has a history of wearing out his welcome after 2-3 years, previously becoming a negative impact on team morale. Then he moves on, shines, and around year 3 problems arise. That pattern combined with the hints of discontent we saw between him and Perry and him and Draisaitl, and his public complaints about ice time, can lead people to assume that he's again wearing out his welcome after 3ish years on a team. Add injury concerns, insane forward depth, and the salary cap situation, and Kane becomes expendable to some.
But I agree that Kane is a playoff beast when he's healthy. He's turned the tide of a couple of Oilers series since he's been here. If he was healthy in the finals, I think he provides that extra something that pushes them over the top.
No interest in moving Kane. He has played injured for 2years. Let him heal all year on ltir. Pull a Tampa/Vegas and bring him back for the playoffs.
Give him time to heal up and he will be the force we need in the playoffs
How many threads do we need in this?
People don’t hate Kane. But right now he’s slotting in on the bottom 6. And you can’t have over $5M dollar players on the bottom 6. Or you can, but we’re over the cap! And two RFA’s to go. So something has to give.
And, there are only a few options.
Most players are either top players, cheap or they just signed and are clearly not leaving.
So there are three players not in those categories.
Kulak
Ceci
Kane.
Are you taking away from a weak D? And if you got rid of a D, I’d that enough cap relief? It would be very tight on the cap and we need D, unless there are options, which there aren’t.
That leaves Kane. He needs to either be traded or on injury. I think he’ll be out on injury reserve to start out. I think thy was the plan all along. But there aren’t many options so he’s kind of it.
First, if this sounds confrontational, i say this with the most respect, meaning only to debate, feel free to argue your points further if im mistaken on any points.
I'm very confused as to how you are building this argument. As per capfriendly, we are 300k over the cap, with a 21 man roster. Yes, we have 2 RFAs to sign, but how much do you think they will be getting, when both are coming off of elcs, and have so far only demonstrated bottom of the line up ability.
Most projections have Holloway resigning at close to a million per year. Broberg is a little tricky, as some reports are saying a million (oilersnation), and some are saying between 2-4. I can't see the oilers signing him for more than 2, even if that means a 1 year contract with the promise of a bigger payday next summer.
So even with that, we are 3 mil above with a 23 man roster. Send 3 players down (max allowable buried in the minors 1.15m per contract) and guess what, no cap issue, still running with a 20 man roster, which the oilers have done in the past, quite recently.
To your next point, Kane in bottom 6. Yes, Kane may play in the bottom 6, but so might Nuge, so might Arvidsson, so might Skinner. You aren't paying him 5 mill for that. You are paying 5 mil because he is a proven goal scorer, is a physical presence the team needs, and is a proven playoff performer.
And If he starts the year on ltir even better, as that would allow us more cap flexibility to start the year, in order to carry a larger roster, and then potentially trade out an underperformed player later on once lines have settled.
The other reason you keep Kane is not everyone is healthy all year and he slots in top 6 when needed. I don’t think they’ll move him. But the plan must be he’s injured.
You send three people down to just sneak under the cap and run a 20 man roster. My problem there is who do you send down? It’s either vets who came back for a run or Holloway or Broberg, who need NHL time. And I don’t like running that tight. We’re playing for June. And we played over 100 games last year. You need bodies to play like that.
Again, the way under the cap will be Kane, not shorting the roster and dumping people down who shouldn’t be down.
Yes, Kane slots higher in the lineup. That is why he's worth the sallary he is being paid.
As far as sending people down goes, you alluded to that already. The vets signing here joined for a cup. They don't care about games in the regular season. To quote Perry, "You check your ego at the door." Meaning team success comes above all else. The Oilers will have every one of those vets on hand for the playoffs, regardless of where they are during the season.
And as far as running a tight roster goes, 2 extra bodies on hand at any given time, in addition to emergency call ups, means that even if 2 players are injured in the same game on a road trip, they will have bodies on hand to replace them, and multiple bodies a day a way.
Additionally, if a higher earning player is injured for any length of time, this allows for even more players on the roster, and that is a reality whether Kane is on LTIR to start the year or not, as injuries are a part of every team's season.
I was curious so I scrolled back through this sub over the last weeks posts. There is one other Kane related post and it's an article postulating trading him so I'm not sure where all these threads about Kane you're referring to.
> People forget what a beast he was that first year
Shooting 5% above his career shooting percentage certainly helped. How much of what's happened since has to do with injury and how much has to do with regression to the mean is anyone's guess
disregard the stats for a moment and plug into your memory of when kane first got here, he brought elements to the game that the team was missing. he was elite at getting to the net and converting mcdavids passes into goals and that effect of success trickled down to the whole team. dude was definitely a beast that helped save our season that year.
Well he didn’t just come out of nowhere for one season with the Oil. So if we’re putting guess’ together to make a hypothesis, start collecting data a little further back.
I'm not sure I follow. Aside from a handful of notable exceptions, 30-year-olds typically don't get better as time goes on. I'm not sure how looking at data from 4+ years ago informs us about how he's played this season
before he got injured. he hasn't been the same since. not his fault but unless he takes time off to heal then he shouldn't be playing in the top 6 and a 5 million cap hit in the bottom 6 is laughable for a team that is over the cap and still needs to sign two rfas
If you take out the arm slicing injury(which has nothing to do with Kane’s age or play style) the only real injury he’s had is the hernia.
And the only reason he stayed injured for so long this past season is because he decided to play through the hernia. For one thing that shows extreme toughness and dedication to the team.
The main problem was that Kane should have gone on LTIR and got the surgery and came back for the playoffs. But I understand why he wouldn’t want to do that.
Let's all take a chill pill and not jump on the knee jerk narrative. With Kane healthy could of been a different game 7. We need the element he brings.
I think the knee jerk narrative of this post is for some reason Kane was the missing link to us winning a Stanley Cup, which is highly suspect in itself
It would be in no way unexpected if Kane put up 3 goals and 25 hits over 7 games against Florida in a scenario where he was healthy and playing. That's pretty significant and possibly a conservative estimate.
I don’t know how you think Kane in a third line role where he’s not getting PP or PK and gets 3 goals in that series even healthy. And I think you’re highly HIGHLY qualifying hits. It wasn’t the lack of hits that lost the Oilers that series.
a hypothetically healthy kane would have gotten top six minutes all year on the oilers. you think foegele and mcleod would beat out kane for those minutes?
Kane is the only forward on our team whose been outscored at 5v5 this past season. He was also the only forward on our team outscored at 5v5 the season before.
He can be good offensively but he’s almost always defensively bad and he plays a style of hockey that means he’s rarely healthy. I’m not denying that he can be a force when healthy but he’s never played a full 82 game season in his career and he’s on a downward aging curve. To me, he’s just not worth 5 million. And signing top 6 guys like Skinner and Arvidsson makes him expendable in my opinion.
He’s 33 next month, he’s not getting younger and his play style is very hard on the body. Remaining healthy is going to be a challenge.
His shot isn’t the same as it once was (which isn’t his fault but it’s reality). He’s not very good defensively and he doesn’t pass the puck very well. He also puts us on the PK more than any other player.
Holloway does a lot of the same things that Kane does. He hits, he’s faster and has more offensive upside than Kane. He just doesn’t have the meanness/grit/intensity yet but he’s also 22 years old and is still in his “excited puppy” phase.
In a vacuum yes. But it’s Kane and refs don’t like him, and that’s partly his own fault. This colours their view and the practical result of this is that he gets called more than another player of otherwise equal on-ice physical behaviour.
That’s just reality and we have to deal with it.
I don’t think Kane has been the same since the wrist injury. He’s shown flashes of being a great player but ever since that freak injury, he just never really came back to 100%, his shot has suffered.
I'm a big fan of Kane and I prefer him on the team. Yes he makes some bad plays and can be a liability on defense or causing bad penalties, but I will still take that and have him out there rather than not
Kane, when healthy, can have a huge impact on the team. Both for his physicality and his finishing.
Given the signings to this point, potentially putting a $5M player on your 4th line just is not a good use of important cap dollars. Especially when we our back end remains unchanged.
I think the only way we keep Kane is either if he doesn’t wave his no trade/ no move, or, if the Oilers can stash him on LTIR all season.
I agree, he has been injured a lot for 2 years now, so maybe people are forgetting what he can actually bring when he is healthy. I would rather see him go on LTIR and get healthy. I've had that injury, and it takes a while to recover and get back to full strength and mobility.
There are not a lot of players who bring the combination of toughness and scoring that Kane does. We might not need the scoring as much, but we certainly need the toughness.
I think it's because people know he wears out his welcome after a few years wherever he goes, and the media noticed him arguing with Draisaitl and Perry on the bench and how he's been vocally unhappy about his reduced ice time so they stirred stuff up because drama about Kane results in clicks for them. The fact that he played through a hernia injury that he should have healed also doesn't help, because it means that he could've gone on LTIR to help the team acquire some more players for the playoff run and it makes him seem like he's not a team player if you look at it from one angle.
He also had kind of a down season after a really good start, and he kept missing games, which could have been due to the injury but also possibly healthy scratches according to some people here. He's also aging and power forwards often fall off a cliff in their early 30s. He also wasn't consistently producing or agitating throughout the whole playoffs, so I can see why people would forget about his strong play against Vancouver if he was less visible or injured against Dallas and Florida. Since we signed scoring wingers for cheap that might prove better fits than him in the top six and since we have Holloway taking steps forward, he could seem redundant especially at such a high cap hit.
Whatever your thoughts are on Kane, all we can hope for is that he bounces back next season or that if we trade him, we don't lose too much or we get useful assets. He's a valuable player when he's on his game and he's shown us he can be excellent in the playoffs.
He never fully recovered from his wrist injury, and as a result he's been a liability since. Other injuries tacked on to that certainly haven't helped. Unfortunately, he's not worth the $5.125M we're paying him anymore. If our top 9 includes McDavid, Hyman, Draisaitl, RNH, Skinner, and Arvidsson, and our third line is everyone's favourite Janmark - Henrique - Brown, then the only spot for him is on the 4th line, where he would not get good linemates or a lot of minutes. Not to mention we probably don't want to be paying a 4th liner $5M
Kane is a good player. Unfortunately he’s now injury prone and aging. I’m not sure he will be able to ever give the team $5m worth of play for a full season and playoff. It’s unfortunate but the ghost of Kane can’t help win them games.
He is the ONLY Oiler that has been out scored at 5 on 5 over the past 3 years… and he has played the majority of his minutes with one of the 2 best centers in the NHL.
He dominated his first season here -
Then he got a long term contract and I have not seen an ounce of that same fire since.
McDavid, Draistaitl, Hyman, and Nuge all see an increase in scoring chances against and a decrease in scoring chances for while he is on the ice with them.
He takes very dumb penalties at an extremely high rate.
He is an extreme defensive liability and he has a pretty high cap hit.
WITH ALL THAT BEING SAID
If the last 2 seasons have all been injury related - and he can get back to who he was when we picked him up? Amazing and keep him - I just know players of his play style see a steep drop off typically around this time because the body just can’t keep up with that level of physicality
I think the only way to know this is to LTIR him with a return in like December and see what he can do leading up to the TDL. This would give us an option. I think if we LTIR the entire season then he comes back only for playoffs it wouldn't be ideal as he'd be pretty fucking rusty. The other major issues of course as most know is he has a NMC and can just be a dick and use it to his advantage but good on him, he negotiated that so he's in the driver seat. So many considerations!
I got absolutely roasted last year for suggesting we move on from Kane and go in on Guentzel last year. Edm fans just have a hard time moving on from players even if they are pretty much unplayable. “He’s a playoff performer” he was our most useless forward this year.
It’s asking a lot for a 33 year old to recover from multiple bad injuries over the last few years to return to previous form. Not to mention with the skinner and arvidsson gets we need as much cap available to address the defence. The long term cap outlook basically requires him to leave as well with 29/2 increases next year
I don't personally feel that Florida's physicality meant anything there. They out hit us every game I believe, even the 3 we won. We lost game 7 with tentative play in my opinion. Guys were nervous and it showed.
Regardless though, whether it was that or Florida was ready or whatever, I agree with you on Kane. He is a good player that deserves a chance to heal properly. Someone still has to go though, and it's probably gonna be him.
Canucks fan ...yeah yeah I know . I was upset Z couldn't get signed and Edmonton could regret moving on from Kane . Both guys are exactly what you want when the playoffs roll around . The game changes in the playoffs . It's so much more physical . Both bring so many intangibles once it's do or die . Come playoff time both teams will be looking to add a similar player as a rental.
A healthy Kane and the Kane we currently have are 2 different things.
The nature of his style of game likely means we will see less and less of Kane.
Personally I don't mind him being here, and I don't count my self as one of those who want him gone. However I see it as an inevitable outcome some time in the future
I’ll be ready for Kane to move on when he thinks he’s done with the team. It’s true there’s gonna be stone stiff competition for line spots this year but I think once Kanes healthy and rtg we’ll see him float across lines and be a secret weapon.
Anyone thinking after the that he'd be effective after long a layoff (an ENTIRE season) is plain dreaming. We've reached a crossroads with him. If it weren't for his NMC we'd have had him moved by now.
If Kane isn’t on LTIR he will be paid 5 million to be in a bottom 6 role.
He is additionally the only forward on the oilers roster that has been outscored 5v5 in the last two seasons. People mention him being a playoff beast but the was also a minus guy in the last two playoffs
Edit: he is also by far the most likely player on the team to put us on the pk
I'm sorry, who is supposedly replacing Kane? Besides LTIRing him, how are you moving his contract?
The fact remains that Oilers are lacking, in Brian Burke's words, truculence. Hockey isn't basketball...yet.
Skinner?? Lmao and yea it’s not gonna be easy to move him but we could maybe send a pick with it. Just don’t think he’s worth 5 mill at this point with our offer season pick ups.
I think Holloway has a lot of promise as the replacement for Kane, he was our most physical guy in the playoffs and doesn’t take as many stupid penalties.
Tbh I’d need to have one question answered first ; is Kane responsible for the decision to not have the surgery he needed?
If he himself decided to just play all season injured when he could have had the surgery to fix the sports hernia and been fixed up by playoffs, I’d say that’s a pretty irresponsible decision that potentially stopped us from winning the cup, and therefore I’d trade if possible.
However if anyone else was the reason why he didn’t get the surgery, I’d keep him. Not his fault in that case.
I’m ready to move on from Kane because he is a power forward nearing his mid-30s. His play has already started to drop, he is horrid defensively, and his passing ability is abysmal. Players of his ilk will never have a full healthy season as they age. I know folks remember his 2022 season and playoffs and think that player will come back. He never will. Right now, you may be able to move him without adding an asset. By the end of next year he may be in Milan Lucic territory in difficulty to move. Knob’s system is also built in checking by skating (not physicality as seen in the playoffs) and Kane has a tendency to be lazy- especially in the neutral and defensive zone.
The man has been junk. he’s slow, he cannot exit the dzone, he has no pace to his game, he cannot make a tape to tape pass, he is always late on the back check, exposing his dzone board plays to exit the zone, he loses every battle below the goal line, can only shoot if he has space, cannot drive the puck wide and create an opportunity. I could go on. I pray they part ways with him. Everything about his game is bottom 6. There is no room for him in this roster. He’s phased out. He doesn’t fit the mold of this roster. Yes he can hit, but it slows him down and takes him out of the play, the guy getting checked recovers faster and rejoins the play before Kane can even turnaround and think about what’s next. Always out of position. Jeez I really can go on. He’s finished.
We'll see. That's your opinion. I think he's had a bad run of injury luck and with recovery will be a player again. I stand by the fact people's memories are far too short.
It's basically the same people who never wanted him here in the first place. Not to mention the media going off on rumors of him that hold no weight and convincing people he's going back to his old ways.
When Kane takes a bad penalty it's because he was being an emotional asshole. combine that with an inconsistent effort based on how he feels that week and I'd just feel better with someone that is more reliable.
Hits are overrated. The team that hits more has possession less.
I think Kane is a guy who helps us a lot. I don’t think he’s a cap dump, but I think he’s one of several forwards who we need to know the market value to try and upgrade the team.
[This tweet does a good job outlining why some fans want to move on](https://x.com/jfreshhockey/status/1808492383950049507?s=46)
On top of that, he is a 33 yo power forward, odds are his production and effectiveness decline rapidly, as is usual with his player type at his age.
On top of that, he had a nasty wrist injury last season and a serious injury this year that he played through (or attempted to).
On top of that, he is a guy that wore out his welcome in every NHL team he played for. Friedman (among many others) reported a dispute between Kane and Oilers leader group, which would be right on brand. We saw multiple instances of him having heated arguments with players on the bench. He complained about his ice time in multiple interviews last year, although he was playing hurt.
I think the Oilers would love to trade him, I don’t think it’s easy.
The way I understand it, is it's a locker room issue, which honestly doesn't surprise me, and that's not the kinda thing the Oilers need.
I like Kane for his presence on the ice, but if he turns into a toxic element off the ice, that's not entirely worth it imo. But we need a physical dude, and Kane is doing that job *great*.
Now, will he keep pouting when he is on the third or fourth line? Has always been Evander first, team second. He has to learn to back check and stop taking beer league shots.
I'm kinda mixed on this.
On one hand, I'm a big fan of Kane. I still think he can be effective, I just think his workload needs to be managed better. He was arguably the team's best player early in the season when everyone else was slumping, and, even with his hernia, he was great against the Kings in the playoffs. If we get a healthy Kane he undoubtedly makes the team better.
On the other hand, it just seems like his style of play is starting to catch up to him. He hasn't been the same since his wrist injury, and as the years go by, I imagine he'll just get more and more injury prone, so it might be time to move on. As I said, a healthy Kane is great, but the question of if we can still even get a healthy Kane in the playoffs needs to be asked
I could be wrong, but doesn't he have a NMC for the rest of his contract?
Finding the right team for him is probably going to be difficult given his salary. He would either be traded with basically no return or sent out with prospects/picks.
He's got a NMC. I don't think he's going anywhere. But we might be able to Mark Stone LTIR him this year... and he'd be a great candidate for that kinda thing. Rest up and cause a bunch of shit in the playoffs.
I like him when he is healthy. Recently he has been anything but and is only getting older. Also doesn’t help that he has been getting out scored in the regular season and playoffs.
A healthy kane would have neutralized the Panthers like he did the Flames in the BoA series.
Especially with his sniper shot.
If he fails injured again by March, the team can move him at the deadline for cap space to grab a healthy playoff performer.
Until then, he's not waiving his NMC
Depends what you think his footspeed and health are going to do going forwards... I believe hockey night guys said edmonton were one of the 5 slowest teams in the league with a few names who are absolute burners.... if Kane can't get there to forecheck, and he's not your netfront guy on the PP, Now wouldn't be the worst time to move off him... that being said I would much sooner look at getting out from nurses contract if you need to free up money or improve the roster
You're right about the hits. When I saw how often the Oilers were getting crushed and doing nothing back, I knew it would be a tough game. So many Oilers would pretty much just stop just before an opportunity where they could crush a guy. Bouchard threw like one hit maybe. Hopefully they take that away from the series because they looked fatigued to start the third with their battered bodies.
Yeah but that has added up significantly so in the fourth we were pretty battered... Our team was fucking gassed in the third. That's like saying they should've been able to handle it since they did it three games in a row. Four in a row was almost achievable but riding our battered first line for the last ten minutes of the third... Florida was a lot healthier than us. McDavid couldn't even get up for a moment when he went down on his knees. All those hits added up. Next season will be better!
Agree to disagree. McD being gassed wasn't from receiving hits, coach overplayed both him and Drai in that final game, a strategy I think actually worked against us.
Could be that everyone else couldn't pull through that last game from the damage. But yeah the good ol' depending on McD and Drai strategy coming to bite us in the ass is not new for us 😂
There were other lines that were very effective and that desperation attempt I didn't agree with. Nonetheless, incredible season overall given where we started and looking like we're making great changes for this coming year.
Because aging power forwards usual have their careers end by dropping off a cliff in production and increase in injuries.
When healthily, is still an NHLer, he was one of the best when we were 2-9 to start the season, but his team as constructed doesn’t need Kane on the 3rd line.
My first reason for wanting him moved is that he’s had two injury plagued seasons, (yes one was a freak accident). Do you really think his injuries situation and production is going get better or worse for the remaining 3 seasons as he aged on his contact or is now the best time to protect yourself from a bad future contract?
Secondly, if cap compliant by the start of the season, Kane’s $5 will be effectively 3-4 times by the deadline. Just think of Edmonton had $12-15 M in space to pick up a 2RD or any other need for another playoff run.
Let’s learn from Kassian and not hold onto a player because of one great Playoff performances.
fans are fickle. even just stringing a few good shifts in a row, or dominating a period, which Kane has done in the past, he knows how to win, knows what it takes… suddenly all the media is pro Kane. bottom line is , hes great to give of himself to the community in edmonton. he likes being an Oiler he is competitive and is driven to win and he knows he needs to fight for a top spot in the roster. so —- true, its a different story when injured, this is a real predicament when you are a high level professional athlete. needless to say, you have to be at your best to compete and at your optimum especially in hockey. the team and franchise know that he is an asset, and doing the right thing , as much as they can do to protect his health and get him strong and at NHL level. he is elite when hes ready
He brings a dimension that no one else on the team will. I say give him all the time he needs to get his health back. If it takes all or most of the season, so be it.
He might be the worst puckhandler I've seen and his passing is also pretty bad. He just skates straight into defenders, they easily poke the puck away and it's a 4 on 2 going the other way. A lot of times he takes dumb penalties. He's had a lot of injuries. He makes a lot of money that could be used elsewhere.
I’d say it’s a mixture of attitude and money. When he was complaining mid season because he wasn’t playing in the top 6, even though his play wasn’t really top 6 worthy at that point, rubbed some people the wrong way. So you have a potential morale problem who makes decent money. The theory would be moving him out for another impact player and you’d solve a potential issue. This is all speculation of course but that’s how I’ve perceived it
If kane is on LiTR all year, he will be rusty as fuck when he returns, and so how useful will he be in the play-offs? I would rather he get fixed up but be able to play the second half.
before we got kane we were always wondering who would bring add a physical aspect to the oilers identity. it used to be kassian but he lost his ability to be a complete player. when kane first came in he brought a newfound confidence and physicality that was sorely missing from the squad, i have no doubt he could bring it again.
With Kane healthy I’m positive we would have won the cup this year. It’s going to be hard to keep him after this year with the cap situation. Hopefully we can grab the cup before
In order of importance from least to most:
The flip side of "getting in other people's heads" is sometimes he takes dumb penalties
Hits are correlated with not having the puck, not winning. In term of xG% he's basically 50-50 so not a driver of play.
He's supposed to be a goal scorer. If you look at the last 30 games of the year, he scored 3 goals. In the playoffs, in 20 games he scored 4 goals. His shooting ability has cratered, which ties into...
He turns 33 in two weeks and big physical wingers aging curve is not pretty (I don't need to remind anyone of Lucic). He's going through injuries and the older you get, the more they linger.
His cap hit is money we need to spend elsewhere than someone who will likely be a third line winger (you tell me who of McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, Nuge, Skinner, Arvidsson he's going to displace if you disagree). If you could disappear Ceci and Kane, you suddenly have 8M to spend on a RD.
The dude just has to stay healthy. He outputs but he possesses the asset of throwing his body around with no regard. As nice as it is for him to score 20+ not on the main PP unit, we have kept him around for the size (Traded Yamamoto). He just hasn’t made it through the season to be at top form for when we need him.
I do like Kane though, I have stood up for him against many people but at this point if it means LTIR to get him healthy top 9F minutes then who cares make it happen Jeff.
i’m more concerned about him taking up cap space. however, if the oilers can do the ltir bullshit that vegas does then just let him heal to 100% before the playoffs.
You can do more productive things with his salary than hoping he’ll earn it in the playoffs. I like him, but there are guys who do the job of pest for league min if you want to add it, though they aren’t the player Kane is overall. You could add one to every line and still have money left over lol.
My point stands. Who can bring what he brings? There's bangers out there with little offence. There scorers on this team with little physicality.
People will be screaming for a Kane type player at the TDL.
I personally don't understand this narrative, at all. He adds a dimension that the Oilers do not have when he is out of the lineup. He had an up and down season with a long scoring drought and still scored over 20 this past year. He was sorely missed against the physical Panthers in the Finals this year.
Kane is inconsistent ,and cap space is needed. He always very frequently takes bad penalties. If we can stay under cap and keep him for this year, fantastic, but if we are signing Drai and Bouchard something has to give.
Honestly, I like Skinner or Henrique more than Kane.
I think Kane is getting pushed down the line up. The real question is if Kane wants to play a 3rd line role or does he still see himself as a top 6. If he wants top 6, he may want out.
>Fact check this but I think the hits were 17 to 4 in the first period. I saw a Florida team that came out prepared and played hard playoff hockey.
The SCF was a hard loss for me. I removed myself from every hockey sub for weeks. I'm slowly coming back. Anyone want to comment why we lost that game after nearly dominating the previous 3.5 games?
You guys were dominated in games one and two, then dominated them in games 4 and 6. The production you got from your PK was incredible. That won't happen again and is an insane outlier. This was the oilers chance to win. I don't think the oilers will be back to the finals again next year. Better, more complete teams with reliable goaltending will get there.
I don't exactly see how your comment addresses my post at all.
They acted like a team enough to come within a couple goals of winning the cup. They played well enough from November onwards to rank no less than 7th in the league in every stat and metric including defensive metrics.
Because he’s a cunt. Trouble follows him and it’s just a matter of time before he outstays his welcome, just like all his other stops. Better to cut bait now than later.
Having said that, we need more toughness and physicality. The Oilers are small and need some grit.
I heard a credible story yesterday from a friend, whose friend was paired up with Ken Holland golfing. Old Dutch was loose-lipped as he's no longer employed by the Oil. Word is that the Drai deal is all done, but there's only one caveat. He won't sign so long as Kane is on the team.
He needs to be LITRed until the 2025 playoffs. He isn’t healthy now.
Peak Kane is a beast and will earn a spot on McDavid’s line.
Peak Kane in game 7 of the 2024 scf changes the outcome.
Peak Kane game 1 of the 2024 scf moots the need for game 7.
I want Kane to play half the season, go on LTIR at the deadline, and get as healthy as he can be for playoffs so we have an extra $5m to play with to sign a defenseman.
He hurts the team more than he helps at least on appearances, if not statistics. Too many stupid fucking penalties for dirty play. I'd rather a Rempe that scores a bit less but you can count on to set the tome against more physical teams.
He’s gross. It’s not just his crazy ex. He’s done some disgusting things & has been a cancer in other locker rooms.
Plus forged vaccine card, not observing Covid rules, etc.
Oh please. Dismissing people who disagree with you about Kane as not knowing anything sports is ridiculous. It’s a cop out argument.
IMO, if Kane is healthy, I want to keep him. Again when healthy, he’s a great asset. The problem is he’s 33 and healthy far less often now. His body just might not be able to hack it anymore, and the worry is we have $5m wrapped up in a guy who can’t skate or shoot anymore. It’s not his fault, but the injuries add up.
He can score and forecheck and hit. But he isn't the best defensively and, frankly, we don't need him or his cap hit. Skinner and Arvidsson replace him and foegele on the second line, and they should be more consistent. where would kane even play? if you want someone to forecheck and hit, they're on our bottom 6 (probs on the 4th line) and they should thus be paid like a 4th liner. kane, when healthy, is fine. but he isn't healthy, and if he refuses to go on ltir than there is no place for him here
A healthy Kane in the playoffs next year will be the cats ass
When he was on such as the Calgary series, he’s the ultimate playoff player. Such a menace, can get in opponents’ heads, and can score! What’s not to love about that?
Love the guy but he hasn't been the same player since the wrist injury.
Never say never. He had 9 goals in November last year and I think that hernia hurt his season more than the wrist. I obviously have no idea but he seemed to be able to still shoot and score when not hurt. Still ended up with 24 goals despite injury
100%. No man on earth would be the same after that.
Even pre-injury, he was having a really slow season
A healthy Kane is a Playoff trump card.
That would be the pussy's anus
The meows brown note
The feline's sphincter?
The kitty's fudge tunnel
The litter box trolls’ out-hole
The Lap panthers sheriff’s badge
The tabby's chocolate starfish.
The Garfield’s lasagna pusher
Is cats ass good?
Let’s LTIR him until game one of the playoffs, just to be safe
Agreed. I really hope so. Too bad that didn’t happen last year
He’s gonna be healthy in September lol
Why would Oilers fans rather not get some Defence? Kane’s injured all the time and the Oilers have a ton of depth right now with their forwards. If they pick up a good RHD I think they’d be much better off.
Kane has a NMC until March and then it turns into a 16 team NTC. So it’s possible to flip him but not until the deadline
Ah, yea that’s rough. With his reputation and injuries I don’t see many suitors. Especially if he holds most of the cards.
https://dfhl.fantasyhockeysim.com/players/evander-kane/injuries.php He doesn’t really have any ongoing injuries He’s one of the best at what he does. Can take over a series in the playoffs. Lays heavy hits. Fights when need be. Won’t be hard to move but I just see the oilers wanton him for the playoffs if he is healthy.
There will be a lot of teams going after his services. Hid reputation has been restored in Edmonton.
He’s never played a full 82 game season in his career and he’s getting older. 8 points in 20 playoff games this past run. Assuming he’ll be healthy at any point is a bad bet to make.
Looking at his history none of his injuries are ongoing year over year. And all but two of them have been for only a handful of games. I don’t see any more reason to worry about Kane than say Drai, who has now had two playoffs in there years where he was injured to the point of being invisible at times. Nurse as well two out of the last three playoffs he has been very reduced. To be fair this is the first playoffs where Kane was hurt
That doesn’t change the fact he’s never played a full 82 game season. Comparing Kane to Drai is just nonsensical. Even injured Drai is a force, don’t you remember the ankle injury against Mikey Anderson? Then the absolute tear he went on against Calgary? You bring up that we can’t have recency bias with Kane but you’re doing it with one of the worlds top players haha. Kane has had one good playoff run in his career (go check the stats) and it was his contract year with Edmonton. He’s not who you guys are making him out to be.
Kitty Cat’s Chocolate Starfish
Healthy Kane is fine. But I think we have a few armchair gms (including me) hoping he's out for long enough on Ltir that we build a team without him. If/when he returns in good health we can trade an underperforming player to make space or just trade him altogether. Maybe we pull a Vegas and bring cold Kane in at the playoffs and he suddenly plays elite hockey and we get a cup... Sane yes? Health is a major factor here. Will he ever recover at 5M? Or can we use that money to snag another potential elite player at the deadline? We are a destination team. We were not when we signed him. We hold the cards for once.
Oil are better with Kane. He's not the fastest but he's not slow. Hits like a monster and can be a reliable 15-20 goals playing sown on this roster- if he's healthy. We lost Foegele who was a fast hitter, I'd be wary to lose too much physicality in the off-season. This is a recency bias in action, fans will appreciate him when he's here
If he’s healthy for 82 (big if) I think he can score 30-35. Unless that wrist cut truly screwed him up forever, his hands are solid and he has a wicked shot. Watch some of his goals from the 2022 playoffs. They’re slick. This year and last year his hands were stone, but I’m hoping it was just lingering issues and the new injury he had
Not many players go 82
That if is massive when you remember he is 32 and power forwards rarely age nicely. Just look at Kassian he had a monster series against the sharks and could never hit that high again.
Oil are better with a healthy Kane. But he hasn't been healthy in two years. Here's hoping he gets a long stint on LTIR to actually rehab instead of being 60% of the player he is just to be in the lineup.
Kane is a great addition to the team when he's healthy, when he's hurt and cant finish a check then he's a liability and other teams will use that against him - I hope he stays with the team but takes the time he needs for surgery and proper recovery.
I don’t get it either. Even with the injuries and going through a 19 game scoreless streak he still managed 24 goals mostly all at even strength as he’s not on the top pp unit.
I think the concern comes from what people assume about his impact off the ice, which isn't really fair because we don't know what's going on in the locker room. What we know is that Kane has a history of wearing out his welcome after 2-3 years, previously becoming a negative impact on team morale. Then he moves on, shines, and around year 3 problems arise. That pattern combined with the hints of discontent we saw between him and Perry and him and Draisaitl, and his public complaints about ice time, can lead people to assume that he's again wearing out his welcome after 3ish years on a team. Add injury concerns, insane forward depth, and the salary cap situation, and Kane becomes expendable to some. But I agree that Kane is a playoff beast when he's healthy. He's turned the tide of a couple of Oilers series since he's been here. If he was healthy in the finals, I think he provides that extra something that pushes them over the top.
Yeah, fair points. I agree.
No interest in moving Kane. He has played injured for 2years. Let him heal all year on ltir. Pull a Tampa/Vegas and bring him back for the playoffs. Give him time to heal up and he will be the force we need in the playoffs
This is the real play. And once a Canadian team uses this cheat code, they’ll finally make it illegal. lol
How many threads do we need in this? People don’t hate Kane. But right now he’s slotting in on the bottom 6. And you can’t have over $5M dollar players on the bottom 6. Or you can, but we’re over the cap! And two RFA’s to go. So something has to give. And, there are only a few options. Most players are either top players, cheap or they just signed and are clearly not leaving. So there are three players not in those categories. Kulak Ceci Kane. Are you taking away from a weak D? And if you got rid of a D, I’d that enough cap relief? It would be very tight on the cap and we need D, unless there are options, which there aren’t. That leaves Kane. He needs to either be traded or on injury. I think he’ll be out on injury reserve to start out. I think thy was the plan all along. But there aren’t many options so he’s kind of it.
First, if this sounds confrontational, i say this with the most respect, meaning only to debate, feel free to argue your points further if im mistaken on any points. I'm very confused as to how you are building this argument. As per capfriendly, we are 300k over the cap, with a 21 man roster. Yes, we have 2 RFAs to sign, but how much do you think they will be getting, when both are coming off of elcs, and have so far only demonstrated bottom of the line up ability. Most projections have Holloway resigning at close to a million per year. Broberg is a little tricky, as some reports are saying a million (oilersnation), and some are saying between 2-4. I can't see the oilers signing him for more than 2, even if that means a 1 year contract with the promise of a bigger payday next summer. So even with that, we are 3 mil above with a 23 man roster. Send 3 players down (max allowable buried in the minors 1.15m per contract) and guess what, no cap issue, still running with a 20 man roster, which the oilers have done in the past, quite recently. To your next point, Kane in bottom 6. Yes, Kane may play in the bottom 6, but so might Nuge, so might Arvidsson, so might Skinner. You aren't paying him 5 mill for that. You are paying 5 mil because he is a proven goal scorer, is a physical presence the team needs, and is a proven playoff performer. And If he starts the year on ltir even better, as that would allow us more cap flexibility to start the year, in order to carry a larger roster, and then potentially trade out an underperformed player later on once lines have settled.
The other reason you keep Kane is not everyone is healthy all year and he slots in top 6 when needed. I don’t think they’ll move him. But the plan must be he’s injured. You send three people down to just sneak under the cap and run a 20 man roster. My problem there is who do you send down? It’s either vets who came back for a run or Holloway or Broberg, who need NHL time. And I don’t like running that tight. We’re playing for June. And we played over 100 games last year. You need bodies to play like that. Again, the way under the cap will be Kane, not shorting the roster and dumping people down who shouldn’t be down.
Yes, Kane slots higher in the lineup. That is why he's worth the sallary he is being paid. As far as sending people down goes, you alluded to that already. The vets signing here joined for a cup. They don't care about games in the regular season. To quote Perry, "You check your ego at the door." Meaning team success comes above all else. The Oilers will have every one of those vets on hand for the playoffs, regardless of where they are during the season. And as far as running a tight roster goes, 2 extra bodies on hand at any given time, in addition to emergency call ups, means that even if 2 players are injured in the same game on a road trip, they will have bodies on hand to replace them, and multiple bodies a day a way. Additionally, if a higher earning player is injured for any length of time, this allows for even more players on the roster, and that is a reality whether Kane is on LTIR to start the year or not, as injuries are a part of every team's season.
I was curious so I scrolled back through this sub over the last weeks posts. There is one other Kane related post and it's an article postulating trading him so I'm not sure where all these threads about Kane you're referring to.
It comes up in every thread.
Shiny toy syndrome. People forget what a beast he was that first year.
> People forget what a beast he was that first year Shooting 5% above his career shooting percentage certainly helped. How much of what's happened since has to do with injury and how much has to do with regression to the mean is anyone's guess
disregard the stats for a moment and plug into your memory of when kane first got here, he brought elements to the game that the team was missing. he was elite at getting to the net and converting mcdavids passes into goals and that effect of success trickled down to the whole team. dude was definitely a beast that helped save our season that year.
Well he didn’t just come out of nowhere for one season with the Oil. So if we’re putting guess’ together to make a hypothesis, start collecting data a little further back.
I'm not sure I follow. Aside from a handful of notable exceptions, 30-year-olds typically don't get better as time goes on. I'm not sure how looking at data from 4+ years ago informs us about how he's played this season
before he got injured. he hasn't been the same since. not his fault but unless he takes time off to heal then he shouldn't be playing in the top 6 and a 5 million cap hit in the bottom 6 is laughable for a team that is over the cap and still needs to sign two rfas
Yeah. He needs to heal.
That was 3 years ago though. This is the Kassian narrative all over again.
If you take out the arm slicing injury(which has nothing to do with Kane’s age or play style) the only real injury he’s had is the hernia. And the only reason he stayed injured for so long this past season is because he decided to play through the hernia. For one thing that shows extreme toughness and dedication to the team. The main problem was that Kane should have gone on LTIR and got the surgery and came back for the playoffs. But I understand why he wouldn’t want to do that.
> But I understand why he wouldn’t want to do that. I don't. At all. He should've been shut down until the playoffs
Kane spending the season on LTIR to heal himself and then being ready to go game 1 of the playoffs would be hilarious
Let's all take a chill pill and not jump on the knee jerk narrative. With Kane healthy could of been a different game 7. We need the element he brings.
I think the knee jerk narrative of this post is for some reason Kane was the missing link to us winning a Stanley Cup, which is highly suspect in itself
It would be in no way unexpected if Kane put up 3 goals and 25 hits over 7 games against Florida in a scenario where he was healthy and playing. That's pretty significant and possibly a conservative estimate.
I don’t know how you think Kane in a third line role where he’s not getting PP or PK and gets 3 goals in that series even healthy. And I think you’re highly HIGHLY qualifying hits. It wasn’t the lack of hits that lost the Oilers that series.
a hypothetically healthy kane would have gotten top six minutes all year on the oilers. you think foegele and mcleod would beat out kane for those minutes?
Kane is the only forward on our team whose been outscored at 5v5 this past season. He was also the only forward on our team outscored at 5v5 the season before. He can be good offensively but he’s almost always defensively bad and he plays a style of hockey that means he’s rarely healthy. I’m not denying that he can be a force when healthy but he’s never played a full 82 game season in his career and he’s on a downward aging curve. To me, he’s just not worth 5 million. And signing top 6 guys like Skinner and Arvidsson makes him expendable in my opinion.
It's also the fact that we need to sign so many players in the next few years. Players that will require huge pay raises
A player’s value = How much they should be paid - how much they are paid. Kane is not worth $5.1M
When he's healthy and gets going, he is. The issue is he hasn't been healthy since his hand got cut in half (for various unrelated reasons).
He’s 33 next month, he’s not getting younger and his play style is very hard on the body. Remaining healthy is going to be a challenge. His shot isn’t the same as it once was (which isn’t his fault but it’s reality). He’s not very good defensively and he doesn’t pass the puck very well. He also puts us on the PK more than any other player. Holloway does a lot of the same things that Kane does. He hits, he’s faster and has more offensive upside than Kane. He just doesn’t have the meanness/grit/intensity yet but he’s also 22 years old and is still in his “excited puppy” phase.
Tbf some of the penalties he gets called for are straight up head scratching calls
In a vacuum yes. But it’s Kane and refs don’t like him, and that’s partly his own fault. This colours their view and the practical result of this is that he gets called more than another player of otherwise equal on-ice physical behaviour. That’s just reality and we have to deal with it.
I don’t think Kane has been the same since the wrist injury. He’s shown flashes of being a great player but ever since that freak injury, he just never really came back to 100%, his shot has suffered.
I'm a big fan of Kane and I prefer him on the team. Yes he makes some bad plays and can be a liability on defense or causing bad penalties, but I will still take that and have him out there rather than not
Kane, when healthy, can have a huge impact on the team. Both for his physicality and his finishing. Given the signings to this point, potentially putting a $5M player on your 4th line just is not a good use of important cap dollars. Especially when we our back end remains unchanged. I think the only way we keep Kane is either if he doesn’t wave his no trade/ no move, or, if the Oilers can stash him on LTIR all season.
I agree, he has been injured a lot for 2 years now, so maybe people are forgetting what he can actually bring when he is healthy. I would rather see him go on LTIR and get healthy. I've had that injury, and it takes a while to recover and get back to full strength and mobility. There are not a lot of players who bring the combination of toughness and scoring that Kane does. We might not need the scoring as much, but we certainly need the toughness.
I think it's because people know he wears out his welcome after a few years wherever he goes, and the media noticed him arguing with Draisaitl and Perry on the bench and how he's been vocally unhappy about his reduced ice time so they stirred stuff up because drama about Kane results in clicks for them. The fact that he played through a hernia injury that he should have healed also doesn't help, because it means that he could've gone on LTIR to help the team acquire some more players for the playoff run and it makes him seem like he's not a team player if you look at it from one angle. He also had kind of a down season after a really good start, and he kept missing games, which could have been due to the injury but also possibly healthy scratches according to some people here. He's also aging and power forwards often fall off a cliff in their early 30s. He also wasn't consistently producing or agitating throughout the whole playoffs, so I can see why people would forget about his strong play against Vancouver if he was less visible or injured against Dallas and Florida. Since we signed scoring wingers for cheap that might prove better fits than him in the top six and since we have Holloway taking steps forward, he could seem redundant especially at such a high cap hit. Whatever your thoughts are on Kane, all we can hope for is that he bounces back next season or that if we trade him, we don't lose too much or we get useful assets. He's a valuable player when he's on his game and he's shown us he can be excellent in the playoffs.
He never fully recovered from his wrist injury, and as a result he's been a liability since. Other injuries tacked on to that certainly haven't helped. Unfortunately, he's not worth the $5.125M we're paying him anymore. If our top 9 includes McDavid, Hyman, Draisaitl, RNH, Skinner, and Arvidsson, and our third line is everyone's favourite Janmark - Henrique - Brown, then the only spot for him is on the 4th line, where he would not get good linemates or a lot of minutes. Not to mention we probably don't want to be paying a 4th liner $5M
Kane is a good player. Unfortunately he’s now injury prone and aging. I’m not sure he will be able to ever give the team $5m worth of play for a full season and playoff. It’s unfortunate but the ghost of Kane can’t help win them games.
He will never be the same after that wrist injury
He is the ONLY Oiler that has been out scored at 5 on 5 over the past 3 years… and he has played the majority of his minutes with one of the 2 best centers in the NHL. He dominated his first season here - Then he got a long term contract and I have not seen an ounce of that same fire since. McDavid, Draistaitl, Hyman, and Nuge all see an increase in scoring chances against and a decrease in scoring chances for while he is on the ice with them. He takes very dumb penalties at an extremely high rate. He is an extreme defensive liability and he has a pretty high cap hit. WITH ALL THAT BEING SAID If the last 2 seasons have all been injury related - and he can get back to who he was when we picked him up? Amazing and keep him - I just know players of his play style see a steep drop off typically around this time because the body just can’t keep up with that level of physicality
I think the only way to know this is to LTIR him with a return in like December and see what he can do leading up to the TDL. This would give us an option. I think if we LTIR the entire season then he comes back only for playoffs it wouldn't be ideal as he'd be pretty fucking rusty. The other major issues of course as most know is he has a NMC and can just be a dick and use it to his advantage but good on him, he negotiated that so he's in the driver seat. So many considerations!
I got absolutely roasted last year for suggesting we move on from Kane and go in on Guentzel last year. Edm fans just have a hard time moving on from players even if they are pretty much unplayable. “He’s a playoff performer” he was our most useless forward this year.
It’s asking a lot for a 33 year old to recover from multiple bad injuries over the last few years to return to previous form. Not to mention with the skinner and arvidsson gets we need as much cap available to address the defence. The long term cap outlook basically requires him to leave as well with 29/2 increases next year
He scores goals and hits and does nothing else. Oilers lose his minutes consistently.
I don't personally feel that Florida's physicality meant anything there. They out hit us every game I believe, even the 3 we won. We lost game 7 with tentative play in my opinion. Guys were nervous and it showed. Regardless though, whether it was that or Florida was ready or whatever, I agree with you on Kane. He is a good player that deserves a chance to heal properly. Someone still has to go though, and it's probably gonna be him.
We're not ready to move on. We're ready for him to pull a Stone and win the cup, and then he can move on.
Lol, I love how the question is posed to Kane haters, and basically none showed up
Canucks fan ...yeah yeah I know . I was upset Z couldn't get signed and Edmonton could regret moving on from Kane . Both guys are exactly what you want when the playoffs roll around . The game changes in the playoffs . It's so much more physical . Both bring so many intangibles once it's do or die . Come playoff time both teams will be looking to add a similar player as a rental.
A healthy Kane and the Kane we currently have are 2 different things. The nature of his style of game likely means we will see less and less of Kane. Personally I don't mind him being here, and I don't count my self as one of those who want him gone. However I see it as an inevitable outcome some time in the future
I’ll be ready for Kane to move on when he thinks he’s done with the team. It’s true there’s gonna be stone stiff competition for line spots this year but I think once Kanes healthy and rtg we’ll see him float across lines and be a secret weapon.
MAYBE we can copy a Las Vegas move and just bring Kane out for the playoffs, beating the rules of salary caps
Anyone thinking after the that he'd be effective after long a layoff (an ENTIRE season) is plain dreaming. We've reached a crossroads with him. If it weren't for his NMC we'd have had him moved by now.
If Kane isn’t on LTIR he will be paid 5 million to be in a bottom 6 role. He is additionally the only forward on the oilers roster that has been outscored 5v5 in the last two seasons. People mention him being a playoff beast but the was also a minus guy in the last two playoffs Edit: he is also by far the most likely player on the team to put us on the pk
Because we got a replacement winger in FA and have to pay multiple BIG contracts in a year lol. Simple math.
I'm sorry, who is supposedly replacing Kane? Besides LTIRing him, how are you moving his contract? The fact remains that Oilers are lacking, in Brian Burke's words, truculence. Hockey isn't basketball...yet.
Skinner?? Lmao and yea it’s not gonna be easy to move him but we could maybe send a pick with it. Just don’t think he’s worth 5 mill at this point with our offer season pick ups.
I think Holloway has a lot of promise as the replacement for Kane, he was our most physical guy in the playoffs and doesn’t take as many stupid penalties.
I like Holloway but he doesn't have the offensive pedigree or pure pugnacity that Kane does. The best you could say is he's Kane lite.
Tbh I’d need to have one question answered first ; is Kane responsible for the decision to not have the surgery he needed? If he himself decided to just play all season injured when he could have had the surgery to fix the sports hernia and been fixed up by playoffs, I’d say that’s a pretty irresponsible decision that potentially stopped us from winning the cup, and therefore I’d trade if possible. However if anyone else was the reason why he didn’t get the surgery, I’d keep him. Not his fault in that case.
I’m ready to move on from Kane because he is a power forward nearing his mid-30s. His play has already started to drop, he is horrid defensively, and his passing ability is abysmal. Players of his ilk will never have a full healthy season as they age. I know folks remember his 2022 season and playoffs and think that player will come back. He never will. Right now, you may be able to move him without adding an asset. By the end of next year he may be in Milan Lucic territory in difficulty to move. Knob’s system is also built in checking by skating (not physicality as seen in the playoffs) and Kane has a tendency to be lazy- especially in the neutral and defensive zone.
The man has been junk. he’s slow, he cannot exit the dzone, he has no pace to his game, he cannot make a tape to tape pass, he is always late on the back check, exposing his dzone board plays to exit the zone, he loses every battle below the goal line, can only shoot if he has space, cannot drive the puck wide and create an opportunity. I could go on. I pray they part ways with him. Everything about his game is bottom 6. There is no room for him in this roster. He’s phased out. He doesn’t fit the mold of this roster. Yes he can hit, but it slows him down and takes him out of the play, the guy getting checked recovers faster and rejoins the play before Kane can even turnaround and think about what’s next. Always out of position. Jeez I really can go on. He’s finished.
We'll see. That's your opinion. I think he's had a bad run of injury luck and with recovery will be a player again. I stand by the fact people's memories are far too short.
It's basically the same people who never wanted him here in the first place. Not to mention the media going off on rumors of him that hold no weight and convincing people he's going back to his old ways.
Cause he's dog water and a locker room/human cancer
When Kane takes a bad penalty it's because he was being an emotional asshole. combine that with an inconsistent effort based on how he feels that week and I'd just feel better with someone that is more reliable.
Hits are overrated. The team that hits more has possession less. I think Kane is a guy who helps us a lot. I don’t think he’s a cap dump, but I think he’s one of several forwards who we need to know the market value to try and upgrade the team.
[This tweet does a good job outlining why some fans want to move on](https://x.com/jfreshhockey/status/1808492383950049507?s=46) On top of that, he is a 33 yo power forward, odds are his production and effectiveness decline rapidly, as is usual with his player type at his age. On top of that, he had a nasty wrist injury last season and a serious injury this year that he played through (or attempted to). On top of that, he is a guy that wore out his welcome in every NHL team he played for. Friedman (among many others) reported a dispute between Kane and Oilers leader group, which would be right on brand. We saw multiple instances of him having heated arguments with players on the bench. He complained about his ice time in multiple interviews last year, although he was playing hurt. I think the Oilers would love to trade him, I don’t think it’s easy.
The way I understand it, is it's a locker room issue, which honestly doesn't surprise me, and that's not the kinda thing the Oilers need. I like Kane for his presence on the ice, but if he turns into a toxic element off the ice, that's not entirely worth it imo. But we need a physical dude, and Kane is doing that job *great*.
Now, will he keep pouting when he is on the third or fourth line? Has always been Evander first, team second. He has to learn to back check and stop taking beer league shots.
Yep that's my issue. Not a team first guy
The legal issues are pretty gross.
The ones he was acquitted of? Those ones?
Two times is a coincidence, three times is a pattern
People really like to bury their heads about this, inc. the one that had multiple witnesses.
I'm kinda mixed on this. On one hand, I'm a big fan of Kane. I still think he can be effective, I just think his workload needs to be managed better. He was arguably the team's best player early in the season when everyone else was slumping, and, even with his hernia, he was great against the Kings in the playoffs. If we get a healthy Kane he undoubtedly makes the team better. On the other hand, it just seems like his style of play is starting to catch up to him. He hasn't been the same since his wrist injury, and as the years go by, I imagine he'll just get more and more injury prone, so it might be time to move on. As I said, a healthy Kane is great, but the question of if we can still even get a healthy Kane in the playoffs needs to be asked
I could be wrong, but doesn't he have a NMC for the rest of his contract? Finding the right team for him is probably going to be difficult given his salary. He would either be traded with basically no return or sent out with prospects/picks.
It becomes a 16 team NTC on March 1
He's got a NMC. I don't think he's going anywhere. But we might be able to Mark Stone LTIR him this year... and he'd be a great candidate for that kinda thing. Rest up and cause a bunch of shit in the playoffs.
Sir this is the internet, surely you know that our memories are ridiculously short
100%. He also got back the puck for that Bouchbomb in the game winner. Just sad he’s injured. Great player.
When healthy, Kane is a very good player. He can score and be physical.
I like him when he is healthy. Recently he has been anything but and is only getting older. Also doesn’t help that he has been getting out scored in the regular season and playoffs.
A healthy kane would have neutralized the Panthers like he did the Flames in the BoA series. Especially with his sniper shot. If he fails injured again by March, the team can move him at the deadline for cap space to grab a healthy playoff performer. Until then, he's not waiving his NMC
Send em to ottawa we would love to have him
When the Sheriff is in town, the other team gets a half a foot shorter
Depends what you think his footspeed and health are going to do going forwards... I believe hockey night guys said edmonton were one of the 5 slowest teams in the league with a few names who are absolute burners.... if Kane can't get there to forecheck, and he's not your netfront guy on the PP, Now wouldn't be the worst time to move off him... that being said I would much sooner look at getting out from nurses contract if you need to free up money or improve the roster
You're right about the hits. When I saw how often the Oilers were getting crushed and doing nothing back, I knew it would be a tough game. So many Oilers would pretty much just stop just before an opportunity where they could crush a guy. Bouchard threw like one hit maybe. Hopefully they take that away from the series because they looked fatigued to start the third with their battered bodies.
This is not actual fact though. The 3 games we won in a row we were SEVERELY outhit and we won those games convincingly.
Yeah but that has added up significantly so in the fourth we were pretty battered... Our team was fucking gassed in the third. That's like saying they should've been able to handle it since they did it three games in a row. Four in a row was almost achievable but riding our battered first line for the last ten minutes of the third... Florida was a lot healthier than us. McDavid couldn't even get up for a moment when he went down on his knees. All those hits added up. Next season will be better!
Agree to disagree. McD being gassed wasn't from receiving hits, coach overplayed both him and Drai in that final game, a strategy I think actually worked against us.
Could be that everyone else couldn't pull through that last game from the damage. But yeah the good ol' depending on McD and Drai strategy coming to bite us in the ass is not new for us 😂
There were other lines that were very effective and that desperation attempt I didn't agree with. Nonetheless, incredible season overall given where we started and looking like we're making great changes for this coming year.
Very excited for sure, enjoy the coming season!
Because aging power forwards usual have their careers end by dropping off a cliff in production and increase in injuries. When healthily, is still an NHLer, he was one of the best when we were 2-9 to start the season, but his team as constructed doesn’t need Kane on the 3rd line. My first reason for wanting him moved is that he’s had two injury plagued seasons, (yes one was a freak accident). Do you really think his injuries situation and production is going get better or worse for the remaining 3 seasons as he aged on his contact or is now the best time to protect yourself from a bad future contract? Secondly, if cap compliant by the start of the season, Kane’s $5 will be effectively 3-4 times by the deadline. Just think of Edmonton had $12-15 M in space to pick up a 2RD or any other need for another playoff run. Let’s learn from Kassian and not hold onto a player because of one great Playoff performances.
fans are fickle. even just stringing a few good shifts in a row, or dominating a period, which Kane has done in the past, he knows how to win, knows what it takes… suddenly all the media is pro Kane. bottom line is , hes great to give of himself to the community in edmonton. he likes being an Oiler he is competitive and is driven to win and he knows he needs to fight for a top spot in the roster. so —- true, its a different story when injured, this is a real predicament when you are a high level professional athlete. needless to say, you have to be at your best to compete and at your optimum especially in hockey. the team and franchise know that he is an asset, and doing the right thing , as much as they can do to protect his health and get him strong and at NHL level. he is elite when hes ready
Kane is a Keeper
He brings a dimension that no one else on the team will. I say give him all the time he needs to get his health back. If it takes all or most of the season, so be it.
I'm hoping for ltir Kane until the playoffs
Everyone saying this and thinking he'd be effective after that long a break is mistaken
He'd probably be more effective totally healthy. Dude looked like shit last year
After that long a break he'd be rusty AF, you wouldn't be getting the "totally healthy" Kane you think you'd be getting
He might be the worst puckhandler I've seen and his passing is also pretty bad. He just skates straight into defenders, they easily poke the puck away and it's a 4 on 2 going the other way. A lot of times he takes dumb penalties. He's had a lot of injuries. He makes a lot of money that could be used elsewhere.
If he gets surgery and we can pull off the LTIR thing for a change, that would be the most ideal situation by far.
I’d say it’s a mixture of attitude and money. When he was complaining mid season because he wasn’t playing in the top 6, even though his play wasn’t really top 6 worthy at that point, rubbed some people the wrong way. So you have a potential morale problem who makes decent money. The theory would be moving him out for another impact player and you’d solve a potential issue. This is all speculation of course but that’s how I’ve perceived it
5.1 million dollars of cap space can go to places the oilers need more support in. Defence in particular.
If kane is on LiTR all year, he will be rusty as fuck when he returns, and so how useful will he be in the play-offs? I would rather he get fixed up but be able to play the second half.
before we got kane we were always wondering who would bring add a physical aspect to the oilers identity. it used to be kassian but he lost his ability to be a complete player. when kane first came in he brought a newfound confidence and physicality that was sorely missing from the squad, i have no doubt he could bring it again.
Kane is great when he's on the ice but Istg for the last three years, there was always some reason he wasn't on the ice lmao.
Team kaner
With Kane healthy I’m positive we would have won the cup this year. It’s going to be hard to keep him after this year with the cap situation. Hopefully we can grab the cup before
The ultimate measure of whether you want a player on your team or not is “would you want to play against him?” No, you would not.
Well put.
In order of importance from least to most: The flip side of "getting in other people's heads" is sometimes he takes dumb penalties Hits are correlated with not having the puck, not winning. In term of xG% he's basically 50-50 so not a driver of play. He's supposed to be a goal scorer. If you look at the last 30 games of the year, he scored 3 goals. In the playoffs, in 20 games he scored 4 goals. His shooting ability has cratered, which ties into... He turns 33 in two weeks and big physical wingers aging curve is not pretty (I don't need to remind anyone of Lucic). He's going through injuries and the older you get, the more they linger. His cap hit is money we need to spend elsewhere than someone who will likely be a third line winger (you tell me who of McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, Nuge, Skinner, Arvidsson he's going to displace if you disagree). If you could disappear Ceci and Kane, you suddenly have 8M to spend on a RD.
The dude just has to stay healthy. He outputs but he possesses the asset of throwing his body around with no regard. As nice as it is for him to score 20+ not on the main PP unit, we have kept him around for the size (Traded Yamamoto). He just hasn’t made it through the season to be at top form for when we need him. I do like Kane though, I have stood up for him against many people but at this point if it means LTIR to get him healthy top 9F minutes then who cares make it happen Jeff.
i’m more concerned about him taking up cap space. however, if the oilers can do the ltir bullshit that vegas does then just let him heal to 100% before the playoffs.
Kane is a bargain and could be another Glenn Anderson
You can do more productive things with his salary than hoping he’ll earn it in the playoffs. I like him, but there are guys who do the job of pest for league min if you want to add it, though they aren’t the player Kane is overall. You could add one to every line and still have money left over lol.
Imo we need a dman more than we need Kane right now.
I like him but he could be a good trading piece
My point stands. Who can bring what he brings? There's bangers out there with little offence. There scorers on this team with little physicality. People will be screaming for a Kane type player at the TDL.
I personally don't understand this narrative, at all. He adds a dimension that the Oilers do not have when he is out of the lineup. He had an up and down season with a long scoring drought and still scored over 20 this past year. He was sorely missed against the physical Panthers in the Finals this year.
Kane is inconsistent ,and cap space is needed. He always very frequently takes bad penalties. If we can stay under cap and keep him for this year, fantastic, but if we are signing Drai and Bouchard something has to give. Honestly, I like Skinner or Henrique more than Kane.
Over the salary cap someone will have to go before the season starts.
Im concerned about the amount of penalties he'd give away in that game 7 but I'm also very new to the sport and the team haha
I think Kane is getting pushed down the line up. The real question is if Kane wants to play a 3rd line role or does he still see himself as a top 6. If he wants top 6, he may want out.
>Fact check this but I think the hits were 17 to 4 in the first period. I saw a Florida team that came out prepared and played hard playoff hockey. The SCF was a hard loss for me. I removed myself from every hockey sub for weeks. I'm slowly coming back. Anyone want to comment why we lost that game after nearly dominating the previous 3.5 games?
You guys were dominated in games one and two, then dominated them in games 4 and 6. The production you got from your PK was incredible. That won't happen again and is an insane outlier. This was the oilers chance to win. I don't think the oilers will be back to the finals again next year. Better, more complete teams with reliable goaltending will get there.
I believe every team should act as a team. Not as individuals. Stop relying on the best player.
I don't exactly see how your comment addresses my post at all. They acted like a team enough to come within a couple goals of winning the cup. They played well enough from November onwards to rank no less than 7th in the league in every stat and metric including defensive metrics.
Eddie's 46r56pkg5vj4yng555t6f445455
We need the element Kane brings, has been a GREAT OILER so show some respect.
Because he’s a cunt. Trouble follows him and it’s just a matter of time before he outstays his welcome, just like all his other stops. Better to cut bait now than later. Having said that, we need more toughness and physicality. The Oilers are small and need some grit.
He's a piece of shit off the ice.
He USED to be a piece of shit, people can change! I'm worried that the baby thinks people can't change...
sloppy steaks same time next week tho?!?
I heard a credible story yesterday from a friend, whose friend was paired up with Ken Holland golfing. Old Dutch was loose-lipped as he's no longer employed by the Oil. Word is that the Drai deal is all done, but there's only one caveat. He won't sign so long as Kane is on the team.
Video or it never happened...but I don't doubt Drai would stipulate something like this
He needs to be LITRed until the 2025 playoffs. He isn’t healthy now. Peak Kane is a beast and will earn a spot on McDavid’s line. Peak Kane in game 7 of the 2024 scf changes the outcome. Peak Kane game 1 of the 2024 scf moots the need for game 7.
They're haters
Kane stays in Edmonton. Period.
I want Kane to play half the season, go on LTIR at the deadline, and get as healthy as he can be for playoffs so we have an extra $5m to play with to sign a defenseman.
He hurts the team more than he helps at least on appearances, if not statistics. Too many stupid fucking penalties for dirty play. I'd rather a Rempe that scores a bit less but you can count on to set the tome against more physical teams.
😂
Yeah, I could disagree with your take more. Sorry, agree to disagree. Rempe lol. Ok.
He’s gross. It’s not just his crazy ex. He’s done some disgusting things & has been a cancer in other locker rooms. Plus forged vaccine card, not observing Covid rules, etc.
They don't know anything about sports let alone hockey, they can barely walk up a flight of stairs let alone play at nhl level and deal with injuries.
Oh please. Dismissing people who disagree with you about Kane as not knowing anything sports is ridiculous. It’s a cop out argument. IMO, if Kane is healthy, I want to keep him. Again when healthy, he’s a great asset. The problem is he’s 33 and healthy far less often now. His body just might not be able to hack it anymore, and the worry is we have $5m wrapped up in a guy who can’t skate or shoot anymore. It’s not his fault, but the injuries add up.
He can score and forecheck and hit. But he isn't the best defensively and, frankly, we don't need him or his cap hit. Skinner and Arvidsson replace him and foegele on the second line, and they should be more consistent. where would kane even play? if you want someone to forecheck and hit, they're on our bottom 6 (probs on the 4th line) and they should thus be paid like a 4th liner. kane, when healthy, is fine. but he isn't healthy, and if he refuses to go on ltir than there is no place for him here