Sep. 18: Kane will indeed undergo sports hernia surgery, general manager Stan Bowman told reporters today (via the Oilers’ Tony Brar).
Sep. 13: Mark Spector of Sportsnet is reporting that Edmonton Oilers forward Evander Kane will have sports hernia surgery in the next 10 days or so. Kane has been dealing with the issue since last season and played through the pain as much as he could but eventually missed significant time in the Stanley Cup Final when he dressed in just two of the Oilers’ final seven games.
Kane played reasonably well last season, given that he played through pain for most of it. However, his 24 goals and 20 assists in 77 games represented his lowest point-per-game pace in seven years. The 31-year-old added four goals and four assists in 20 playoff games, which was also a drop from his normal production.
While Kane’s offensive numbers were below his career norms, he did play a career-low 16:47 per game during the regular season which marked his lowest total since he averaged 14:00 per game during his rookie season in 2009-10 while he was a member of the Atlanta Thrashers.
Kane’s prognosis won’t be fully known until surgery has been completed. When his recovery period is clear the Oilers should be able to figure out a plan for their salary cap situation going forward. PuckPedia estimates that Edmonton has $946K in cap space for the 2024-25 season (including Kane’s $5.125MM cap hit), however, if Kane is out longer than 24 days and 10 games then Edmonton can place him on LTIR. If that is the approach they take, the Oilers would need to keep his space available for when he is ready to suit up once again which would presumably be at some point during the regular season.
So weird…why was this not done the day after playoffs?
Exactly.
Evander wanted to have a fun summer and then get sick pay from work
Good team guy there
Doing same thing Matt Murray did for Leafs last yr, in Murray’s case Leafs didn’t want to have to activate him during season, so imo they agreed to put off surgery until end of training camp.
Kane – more then likely Oilers didn’t want him back in dressing room, Kane refused to waive no trade clause so with no trade on horizon, let’s have surgery now and sit out most if not all of the yr.
Usually this surgery wouldn’t keep him out until playoffs, but he could always have a couple set backs during rehab!
Plenty of Casino trips for him during his recovery.
Guessing maybe team was completely onboard with the delay; it buys them time & cap space to build a better roster for April. Just a twist on what Vegas & Tampa have mastered…
Kane can be traded to 1/2 the league beginning on March the 1st, if he is healed by then. Gonna take a BIG sweetener………..
It’s been said that Kane wanted to try and let the injury heal naturally and the Oilers wanted him to get the surgery. Player has final say so they let him try and heal with rest and rehab during summer. Apparently check in medicals have shown it did not heal so surgery it is.
Or, as i’ve stated
He wanted to have a summer and not have to train/do camp
They most likely will stash him on LTIR until the playoffs start!
He will be done I would say career over …
The Oil would love to have this guy on the ice healthy. Who are you trying to kid here. They wont out him on LTIR they want the cap
Space for the deadline. The guy is hurt and wont be available for 6-12 weeks. When healthy he is exactly what this team needs. They arent trading him. They would just end up looking for an exact replica of him. When hes healthy he will be a huge addition to the lineup. Hope he heals and is able to go for the end of the season and playoffs.