NHL trade grades: Canucks make desperate bet on Evander Kane as Oilers get out of a jam

New York Times

3 days ago

Vancouver Canucks get: F Evander Kane
Edmonton Oilers get: 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 117)
(The Oilers retained none of Kane's salary.)
Shayna Goldman: If the Oilers are going to get better, management has to make subtractions. Leon Draisaitl's extension kicks in on July 1 and comes with a $5.5 million cap hit bump. There is the Evan Bouchard contract situation to navigate, and Connor McDavid is up for a new deal in 2025-26. If those aren't enough rising costs, Edmonton still has to find a way to improve around those three core players. The Oilers need more scoring wingers and help in goal.
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In theory, Kane could have been one of those scoring wingers for 2025-26, after he missed the entire 2024-25 regular season with injuries. He scored six goals and 12 points in 21 playoff games. Maybe the most impressive part is that 11 of 12 points were scored at five-on-five, which ranked 12th in the league. The problem is that offense can't be counted on consistently enough, his defense is shaky and there are disciplinary issues.
In the Stanley Cup Final alone, Kane took seven minor penalties — five in the first period, five in the offensive zone. While that didn't necessarily cost the Oilers the series, it certainly contributed to their downfall. At the end of that day, that offense generally doesn't outweigh all of the downsides that he brings to the table, and it's not worth that much precious cap space, either. The 33-year-old takes up $5.1 million on the books, when his market value is closer to $3.7 million. Every cent matters in Edmonton right now. While this now gives management the task of replacing his production in a growing cap world, there's more flexibility to do it.
The fact that the Oilers managed to clear that space entirely without having to pay another team is actually remarkable. Edmonton should have had to attach a pick as a sweetener, instead of gaining a fourth-rounder in return.
Trading a fourth-round for scoring depth isn't some back-breaking cost for the Canucks, in a vacuum. But making this bet is a choice. Yes, the Canucks need more scoring depth in the top nine, and Kane could be extra motivated in a contract year, especially if he has a healthy offseason to train. But at what cost? The team should have kept that $5.1 million in cap space open in free agency, and then, if they struck out, considered Kane as a fallback option. The locker room fit is the most curious part of it. Last year's drama derailed the Canucks' season, and put an abrupt stop to all the progress made in 2023-24. So why would management welcome any potential distraction that could negatively impact the chemistry this group is trying to rebuild?
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Canucks grade: D
Oilers grade: A-
Sean Gentille: One of the bigger story lines of the offseason — not the biggest, but somewhere toward the top of the list — was the question of who'd bail out the Oilers.
Front offices, the vast majority of the time, can find a partner willing to help them out of a jam or three. The identity of the guardian angel, though, was TBD.
Now, six days before free agency begins, we have our answer. Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin's fruit basket from Stan Bowman, we can only assume, is headed out with Wednesday's mail.
Bowman, trying to balance the challenge of hammering out an eight-figure extension with his No. 1 defenseman (Bouchard) and finding a way to improve a roster that's run into the same roadblock in consecutive seasons, just cleared out $5.125 in the easiest imaginable fashion. No fuss, no muss.
To some extent, Bowman will have to replace some goals. Kane, for the last chunk of his career, could be counted upon to score at a pace of 25 per season or thereabouts. He's nearly 34 now, though, coming off a regular season spent (for one reason or another) recovering from a series of nasty-sounding abdominal injuries.
All that, combined with a 21-game postseason top-lined by 44 minutes spent in the penalty box, made his cap hit untenable for a team in any sort of cap crunch. Aging, expensive third-liners whose value, even at their peaks, came almost solely from goal-scoring are … not the most economical players to carry. Bowman did well here. Now, he figures to have $5 million or so — could be more, could be less — to play with once Bouchard's deal is done. And hey, maybe someone takes Viktor Arvidsson off his hands, too.
On to the next one.
The Canucks, meanwhile, seemed to start the summer in desperation mode, and trading for Kane certainly fits the bill. If he's at his best, he'll help — and every bit of that counts for a team sweatily trying to convince Quinn Hughes that they're worth another long-term deal — but he's almost certainly not going to help enough. This is a team that on Tuesday needed a top-six center and a top-line winger. They still do, and now, they have less cap space to help them in their quest.
Oilers: A
Canucks: D