Oilers president reveals major issue with Evander Kane

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Ryan Hall
July 2, 2024 (10:52)

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According to a report from Jason Gregor, Oilers president and interim general manager Jeff Jackson has revealed that Evander Kane is currently suffering through a hip injury, as well as his sports hernia.

According to former NHL referee Tim Peel, Evander Kane was given 6-8 injections every day to keep himself in the lineup, but eventually the injury became just too severe.

Jackson went on to describe what the process is going to be for Evander Kane as they look over the hip issue and whether surgery or rehab will be needed at that time. This certainly explains the drop-in play and how the Oilers put him in the press box for the remainder of the Stanley Cup finals.

He was going through an issue with his hip. We are going through the process to see what will occur and he is getting the best care and advice from our doctors. We will discuss options with him and his agent (Dan Milstein) and get second opinions. That is where we are at and nothing is planned (surgery or just rest/rehab) at this point,» Jeff Jackson on Kane's health.

If Kane is out long-term next season, the team will put him on long term injury reserve which will allow his money to be put away and open over $5,100,000 in cap space for the Oilers.

After all of their free agent signings yesterday, it's hard to imagine there's even any ice time for Evander Kane on the Oilers roster. It was reported last season that he was unhappy with his decreasing ice time, and these new signings may convince him to waive his no move clause to get more playing time elsewhere.

The Oilers continue to face many decisions over the coming weeks and months as their search for a new general manager is at the forefront. Once the new candidate has been chosen, they have several big-ticket items to solve including sign in Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard and the circumstances around Kane and his contract.

Kane has two years remaining on his deal while holding a cap hit a $5.125 million per season and holding and no movement clause gives him the control onto where he may go if the Oilers asked him to waive it. But with this news, it's likely he will just go on to long term injury reserve and the Oilers will use his cap space in the interim.