With just a couple of minutes remaining in Game 6 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena last Tuesday (June 17), the Florida Panthers put the finishing touches on their 5-1 championship-clinching victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Skating past Edmonton’s Evander Kane, Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk slightly bumped into Kane and appeared to say something, prompting a half-hearted slash from his arch nemesis.
Determined to make sure that this game got to the finish line without incident, the official whistled the play down and assessed a 10-minute misconduct to Kane, effectively ending the Oilers forward’s evening.
Without protest, Kane skated off the ice and headed down the tunnel, disappearing from sight as Tkachuk mockingly waved goodbye from the Panthers’ bench. Kane didn’t return to the ice for the traditional series-ending handshake.
That might have been the last time we see the 33-year-old forward in an Oilers jersey, and if it was, there couldn’t have been a more fitting end to his time in Oil Country.
Huge Disappointment in Final
Kane was a huge disappointment for the Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final, which Florida dominated en route to its second consecutive championship series victory over the Oilers.
In six games, the 6-foot-2 forward managed just one point, a goal in Edmonton’s Game 2 loss. He had three games with one or fewer shots on goal, and only one game with more than two shots on goal.
Kane led all players in the Stanley Cup Final with 32 penalty minutes and eight penalties taken. Meanwhile, he drew only two penalties, leaving him a series-worst minus-six in net penalties.
Kane plays on the edge. At his best, he’s causing all kinds of havoc and getting under the skin of opponents, driving them to do something stupid. At his worst, he’s the one getting suckered into doing something stupid, coming unglued and playing undisciplined. In the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, he was very much the latter.
Kane had the potential to be a game-changer for the Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final, just like he was against the Calgary Flames during the second round of the 2022 NHL Playoffs, when Tkachuk was still playing for Edmonton’s provincial rivals.
In that series, Kane was the better of the two agitators, out-scoring Tkachuk five goals to three, and was a massive reason that Edmonton took the series in five games.
But it was Tkachuk who won the battle this time: the Panthers forward scored three goals, including the winner in the decisive Game 6, chipped in four assists, and was a plus-two in net penalties. Most importantly, Tkachuk was the one hoisting the Stanley Cup while Kane was already in the showers.
Effective Until the Stanley Cup
Even before his disappointing championship series, there was already speculation about Kane’s future in Oil Country. But now it’s ramped up several notches.
The veteran winger missed the entire 2024-25 regular season as he recovered from multiple surgeries, repairing two torn hip adductor muscles, two hernias, and two torn lower abdominal muscles, as well as his knee.
After being sidelined for 10 months, Kane returned in Game 2 of the first round of the postseason against the Los Angeles Kings, and wasted little time making an impact. His game-tying goal in the third period of Game 3 completely shifted the momentum of the series, as Edmonton stormed back from a 2-0 series deficit with four consecutive victories to eliminate Los Angeles in six games.
For most of the playoffs, Kane was pretty good. Through the first three rounds, he totalled five goals and six assists in 15 games, while registering a rating of plus-five and averaging more than 4.5 hits per game.
But things took a turn in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena, where Florida blasted Edmonton by a score of 6-1 to take a 2-1 series lead. The Oilers completely came unglued in the game, racking up 85 minutes in penalties, leading to an astronomical 11 power-play opportunities for Florida.
Kane set the tone for Edmonton’s disastrous game. Early in the first period, he brought an end to an Oilers’ power play when he was penalized for cross-checking Gustav Forsling. Then, when his penalty expired, Kane returned to the ice and proceeded to take another selfish penalty, this time for high-sticking Brad Marchand. By the end of the night, Kane had been assessed three minors and a game misconduct.
From that point on, Kane was completely ineffective, recording zero points and just two shots over the final three games of the Stanley Cup Final.
Great Run in Edmonton
Kane signed with the Oilers on Jan. 27, 2022, under a shadow of controversy. He had recently become a free agent after having his contract with the San Jose Sharks terminated for breach of NHL standard player contract and for violation of American Hockey League COVID protocols.
The Vancouver native arrived in Edmonton with plenty of baggage, having a reputation as a teammate who is not good in the dressing room while also dealing with several unsavoury allegations off the ice.
But his Oilers tenure worked out probably far better than anyone could have imagined. He’s made himself a part of the Edmonton community and Oilers locker room, been a model citizen, and – from the outsider’s perspective, at least – a great teammate.
Most of all, Kane has been a force on the ice. Over a combined 229 regular season and playoff games as an Oiler, Kane has notched 88 goals and 65 assists for 153 points. He’s been a major part of one of the greatest runs of success of any NHL team in recent memory, as Edmonton has won nine playoff series over the last four years, making three trips to the Western Conference Final and back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup Final.
It may, however, be time for the Oilers to move on from Kane. He turns 34 in August and has a lot of wear and tear on his 6-foot-2, 218-pound frame. And while he can be a great asset, the Stanley Cup Final showed that he can also be his team’s worst enemy at the worst possible time.
Kane has one year left on the four-year, $20.5 million deal he signed with the Oilers during the 2022 offseason, and carries a cap hit of $5,125,000 in 2025-26.
Appearing on The Fan Hockey Show on Wednesday (June 18), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said that he thinks there will be a market for Kane, should the Oilers try to move him.
After getting so close to the Stanley Cup, only to find they still are a long way from being on Florida’s level, the Oilers are going to make some significant offseason changes. Kane might be part of that. If so, the symbolism of his final moments in orange and blue will prove rather poetic.
