Although this has been a fairly great season for the Edmonton Oilers, the same can’t be said for Oilers winger Evander Kane. The 32-year-old began the season very well, posting 20 points in Edmonton’s first 21 games. But since then, Kane has had a subpar rest of the season, with 19 points in 47 games. The Oilers need him to rediscover his scoring touch to have a better chance at defeating the toughest playoff opponents.
He’s been getting his share of scoring chances, but his shooting percentage of 10.3 is the lowest it’s been since his Buffalo Sabres days. As a result, he hasn’t scored a goal since Feb. 19. That’s a terrible drought, and the strain of it is starting to show
Kane’s contract, worth $5.125 million annually, has two years remaining after this season. While he has a full no-trade clause until the last season of the current deal (according to PuckPedia), Edmonton brass may quietly approach Kane this coming summer to see if it makes sense for both sides to move him to another team. We aren’t at that point just yet, and there’s still time for Kane to salvage his season by coming on strong and being a playoff force. But that time is starting to run out, and now the question is, which Kane will we see in the playoffs? We wouldn’t guarantee anything one way or another for him, but as the Oilers try to lock down home-ice advantage in the post-season, we suspect it will be very difficult for Kane to get back to being a point-per-game player. The hockey is only getting tougher from now on, and the pressure’s building to impress or risk seeing the Oilers choose to move on from him.
Playing in a fishbowl like Edmonton isn’t for everyone, especially when times get tough. The Oilers may ultimately be the wrong fit in the long term for Kane despite some hot streaks over the past three seasons, but he still has time to straighten things out and justify the team’s investment in him. The “maintenance day” he’s just had may lead to better days, but the fact Knoblauch had to go that route with Kane speaks to the desperate times they’re in with him now.
