The timeline for Evander Kane’s return to the Edmonton Oilers has moved again.
When being interviewed on Sportsnet’s After Hours program following the team’s win on Saturday night, general manager Stan Bowman was asked about his confidence in Kane being an impact player come playoff time. Bowman said the team is excited about Kane’s return to the lineup but they aren’t certain he’ll be ready for the start of the playoffs.
Louie DeBrusk: “After adding Trent Frederic, Max Jones, and Jake Walman, you’ve got another one that would be like a found player in Evander Kane. He hasn’t played all season, but he’s skating again now, which is a great sign. How confident are you that he can get back and be an impact player in the playoffs?”
Stan Bowman: “We’ve seen what Evander can do. He’s had a lot of playoff success, he can score a lot of goals, he can intimidate the other team with his physicality and his intensity, he’s a big guy, ane he can really skate and forecheck. You get excited thinking about that.
I think he’s going to be back in the playoffs. Certainly if we can continue our game and have some success, he’s going to play. Whether he can be ready for the beginning of the playoffs, we’re not sure. We’re motivated to keep playing for a lot of reasons, but one of them is to get Evander back in the lineup.”
Kane hasn’t suited up for the Oilers since the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final back in June. There was speculation in the summer that the rugged winger would miss the start of the 2024-25 season and then Kane announced at training camp that he was set to undergo surgery to fix multiple issues that had been nagging him through the previous season and playoff run.
“I’m having a lot done,” Kane said back in September. “Both abductors on each hip, two torn lower abdominal muscles and two hernias.”
“We all agreed to see how things looked after we took some time off (after the season) and if things could improve via rehab. We tried that, and unfortunately, it wasn’t the case. The next step was to find the best possible surgeon. There was some confusion on how we would fix this. Some doctors had different opinions. We have sorted it out and will now have surgery.”
The original timeline for Kane’s return to the Oilers after the surgery in September was on track for early 2025. When December rolled around, the timeline was kicked back to March “at the absolute earliest.” Kane underwent another surgery on his knee in January, pausing his recovery from the first operation. Though he expressed interest in returning during the regular season, the Oilers announced in March that Kane wouldn’t be back before the playoffs.
Last season, Kane scored 24 goals and 44 points in 77 games and then added four goals and eight points in 20 playoff games despite playing through nagging injuries. The 33-year-old has scored 20 goals and 30 points for the Oilers over 47 playoff games.