<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/oilers-evander-kane-expected-to-miss-five-to-six-months-after-abdominal-surgery">The Oilers announced</a> earlier this week that forward Evander Kane had undergone successful abdominal surgery and that his rehabilitation process will take place in Edmonton under the supervision of the team&#8217;s medical staff. The process is expected to take a minimum of five to six months.

Given the timeline, there&#8217;s inevitably been speculation that the Oilers are going to use Kane&#8217;s pre-season surgery to dance around the salary cap. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nhl-playoffs-injured-reserve-2b1fcc789ed72d496e10b67446eace76">Teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights</a> have had players miss significant portions of the regular season only to return in the playoffs when the cap isn&#8217;t an issue.
The Oilers could feasibly stash Kane on the Long-Term Injured Reserve all year, get a bonus cushion of $5.5 million in his absence to add players to the roster, and then give him a three-game run with the Bakersfield Condors on a rehab assignment before bringing him back just in time to play in their annual first-round series with the Los Angeles Kings.
According to Elliotte Friedman, that isn&#8217;t the team&#8217;s plan. <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/podcasts/32-thoughts/">Speaking on the 32 Thoughts Podcast</a>, Friedman poured water on the idea of the Oilers being LTIR Stashers, reporting that they expect Kane to return to the lineup at some point in 2025.
<blockquote>&#8220;As we&#8217;ve kind of said, the Oilers aren&#8217;t expecting [Evander Kane] to be out for the whole season. We&#8217;re looking at early January, February&#8230; It&#8217;s one of those things: how does his body heal, how does he get back into the flow, things like that.
I&#8217;ve been told &#8216;in the new year&#8217; but don&#8217;t exactly know when. But, again, at this point in time, they&#8217;re not expecting him to be out for the entire regular season, so all of you LTIR Stashers, it looks like it isn&#8217;t going to happen in this particular case.&#8221;</blockquote>
The Oilers can also benefit from not putting Kane on the LTIR. If he remains a rostered player on the regular Injured Reserve, the team can <a href="https://puckpedia.com/salary-cap/8-team-cap-hit-calculations-accrued-cap-space#:~:text=Cap%20space%20%E2%80%9Caccrues%E2%80%9D%20over%20time,the%20remainder%20of%20the%20year.">accrue salary cap space</a> throughout the year and make a significant addition ahead of the trade deadline. If a team is getting a bonus pool from having a player on the <a href="https://puckpedia.com/salary-cap/LTIR">LTIR</a>, they aren&#8217;t able to accrue cap space.
Having Kane miss the entire season to get a bonus cushion is significantly more complicated than using accrued cap space to add to the roster. The Oilers will be able to bring Kane back during the regular season so that he has plenty of time to get up to speed and doing so won&#8217;t hinder their trade deadline plans.

<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/oilers-evander-kane-expected-to-miss-five-to-six-months-after-abdominal-surgery">The Oilers announced</a> earlier this week that forward Evander Kane had undergone successful abdominal surgery and that his rehabilitation process will take place in Edmonton under the supervision of the team's medical staff. The process is expected to take a minimum of five to six months.



Given the timeline, there's inevitably been speculation that the Oilers are going to use Kane's pre-season surgery to dance around the salary cap. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nhl-playoffs-injured-reserve-2b1fcc789ed72d496e10b67446eace76">Teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights</a> have had players miss significant portions of the regular season only to return in the playoffs when the cap isn't an issue.

The Oilers could feasibly stash Kane on the Long-Term Injured Reserve all year, get a bonus cushion of $5.5 million in his absence to add players to the roster, and then give him a three-game run with the Bakersfield Condors on a rehab assignment before bringing him back just in time to play in their annual first-round series with the Los Angeles Kings.

According to Elliotte Friedman, that isn't the team's plan. <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/podcasts/32-thoughts/">Speaking on the 32 Thoughts Podcast</a>, Friedman poured water on the idea of the Oilers being LTIR Stashers, reporting that they expect Kane to return to the lineup at some point in 2025.
<blockquote>"As we've kind of said, the Oilers aren't expecting [Evander Kane] to be out for the whole season. We're looking at early January, February... It's one of those things: how does his body heal, how does he get back into the flow, things like that.

I've been told 'in the new year' but don't exactly know when. But, again, at this point in time, they're not expecting him to be out for the entire regular season, so all of you LTIR Stashers, it looks like it isn't going to happen in this particular case."</blockquote>
The Oilers can also benefit from not putting Kane on the LTIR. If he remains a rostered player on the regular Injured Reserve, the team can <a href="https://puckpedia.com/salary-cap/8-team-cap-hit-calculations-accrued-cap-space#:~:text=Cap%20space%20%E2%80%9Caccrues%E2%80%9D%20over%20time,the%20remainder%20of%20the%20year.">accrue salary cap space</a> throughout the year and make a significant addition ahead of the trade deadline. If a team is getting a bonus pool from having a player on the <a href="https://puckpedia.com/salary-cap/LTIR">LTIR</a>, they aren't able to accrue cap space.

Having Kane miss the entire season to get a bonus cushion is significantly more complicated than using accrued cap space to add to the roster. The Oilers will be able to bring Kane back during the regular season so that he has plenty of time to get up to speed and doing so won't hinder their trade deadline plans.

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