Elliotte Friedman appeared on Hello Hockey with Tom Gazzola and Shawn Belle and confirmed that Evander Kane wants to play in the NHL this season, but has also submitted his 16-team list to the Edmonton Oilers ahead of the trade deadline. While Friedman said couldn’t confirm the list was handed in, he did say that the Oilers are looking at their options and prioritizing flexibility.
Uppermost in Kane’s mind is playing for the Oilers this season. He wants to prove that he can be effective in Edmonton during the playoffs, and part of that likely means playing regular-season games. As nice as that sounds, it places the Oilers in a bit of a pickle. They’d like Kane back, but they also want him to come back in the postseason so they can use his $5.125 million on the salary cap at the deadline. If he returns before the post-season, they can’t.
“I think that Kane would like to prove his worth to the team,” says Friedman. He also said that he believes a list has been submitted and he added:
“I think that’s where we’re looking at here. I think they’re doing their due diligence stuff to figure this all out between timeline and what their options are, and because I do think whether it’s LTIR or anything else, they do want some flexibility.”
Kane Traded Would Be a Real Pivot
If the Oilers could find a team willing to take on Kane’s contract, pulling the trigger on a trade would be a serious pivot. It might also suggest that GM Stan Bowman had trouble finding other trades on the market and needed to move Kane’s money to get the space he needed to pull off a deal.
