Evander Kane will be 33 years old at the beginning of next season, and he's starting to perform well below the value of his contract. In 77 games this season Kane produced 24 goals and 44 points, but was often struggling for long periods of time. He's dealt with repeated serious injuries that have affected his level of play, which led to him being taken out of the lineup in the last 5 games of the Stanley Cup Final.
Kane is signed for two more seasons with a salary cap hit of $5.125M each season. He possesses a full no move clause on his contract this year, but a modified no-trade next year. If the Oilers are able to trade Kane, he will have to waive his contract clause and accept the trade to another team. With sources incredibly confident the deal will happen, the Oilers may have asked him to waive already. Speaking to the media yesterday, Jeff Jackson confirmed the Oilers are looking at moves to create cap space.
Although much maligned by many for off-ice issues through his career, Kane was a quality player for the Oilers through the majority of his three years with the team. By creating this cap space, the Oilers will give themselves the room needed to re-sign Leon Draisaitl and address holes on defence. Even without an official general manager right now, the Oilers aren't shying away from bug moves.
