Edmonton Oilers forward Evander Kane will have sports hernia surgery in the next 10 days or so, according to Mark Spector of Sportsnet. 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 performed 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. That 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 $5.125M 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.
