‘At least one team’ reportedly had interest in Oilers’ Evander Kane ahead of trade deadline

As the dust settles on the 2025 NHL trade deadline, word has come out that there was “at least one team” who had interest in acquiring Edmonton Oilers winger Evander Kane.

This, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, who along with 32 Thoughts Podcast co-host Kyle Bukauskas, broke down what did and didn’t happen in the lead up to the deadline and the day itself.

In his third year of a four-year contract, Kane had seen his no-movement clause change to a 16-team approved trade list a week before Friday’s trade deadline. Friedman reported last week that the Oilers had called teams on it to gauge interest in the 33-year-old.

And when Friedman and Bukauskas made their way to the Oilers in the podcast, this is what the former had to say about some rumblings around Kane.

They worked it out with Evander Kane too.

I do think — this is something we’re going to sort out over the next little while — I heard there was something going on. I think there was at least one team out there that thought about Kane. I got to figure that out, who that was, but I did hear something.

Friedman’s initial comment about Kane was in regards to another of his reports from this week where he said there was a “disagreement” regarding his medicals, adding Kane was wanting to play regular season games and that his trade list was “basically contenders.”

Kane being on the LTIR all season opened up $5.124-million in additional cap space for the team, which they used to claim Kasperi Kapanen on waivers, sign John Klingberg, and swing deals leading up to the deadline for forwards Trent Frederic and Max Jones, as well as defenceman Jake Walman.

The Oilers enter the post-deadline period with $1.075-million in cap space, and a full 23-man roster. Jones made his Oilers debut Thursday, notching an assist and two shots on goal on three attempts in 10:26 of ice-time. Frederic, meanwhile, is working his way back from a lower-body injury he suffered in late February, but is expected to play before the end of March, Oilers general manager Stan Bowman said Friday. Walman arrived in Edmonton Friday, and is likely to make his Oilers debut Saturday when the Oilers host the Dallas Stars.

The Oilers announced Friday that Kane would be out of the Oilers lineup, remaining on the Long-Term Injured Reserve, for the remainder of the regular season. But Bowman was non-committal Friday when asked about how they determined when the winger could return.

Kane’s recovery from surgery was complicated, needing a different set of benchmarks to get to the point where he could start training, and another for him to return to play, Bowman said.

“It’s not like we know he’s going to be ready by this date,” he said, via the Oilers website. “We just know he’s not going to be ready by the end of the regular season, which is why it became clear that we had to look at improving our team a different way because he’s not going to be coming back in that time period.”