The summer is getting long for former Edmonton Oilers winger Evander Kane.

After spending a disappointing 2025-26 season with the Vancouver Canucks in which he scored just 13 goals and 31 points in 71 games, averaging 0.18 points per game and 0.44 points per game, the once sought-after rugged forward is now without a contract. At 35 years old, Kane isn’t getting any younger, and there was significant regression in his game last year.

It’s not just the scoring numbers that have plummeted for Kane, who averaged 0.39 goals per game and 0.69 points per game with the Oilers. Comparing last year with the Canucks to his averages with the Oilers on a per-hour basis, he averaged 2.6 fewer shots on goal, 3.2 fewer scoring chances, and 1.1 fewer high-danger scoring chances.

His physicality dropped significantly, laying 5.5 fewer hits per hour, as did his underlying numbers. According to HockeyViz, he drove play well below that of a replacement-level player.

He joined the Canucks last summer, acquired for a fourth-round pick the Oilers later used to select winger David Lewandowski, as Kane played out the final year of a four-year contract paying him $5.125 million. While there was likely hope for Kane that he could find some more security, it’s hard to picture that coming for him.

Now, Kane, who had a rocky exit in Edmonton, had a rocky time in Vancouver. His agent had received permission last January to find a trade for him, but even through the trade deadline, there were no takers.

Kane has surely reached the point in his career where he’ll be requiring a professional tryout before any contract follows, but one has to wonder if that will even be the case. Things got tough for Kane towards the end of his time in Edmonton, and his recent public spat with Mark Spector on X might turn teams away from giving him such a chance.

Considering the issues that seem to follow him, teams must be wondering whether he’s worth the trouble, especially with diminishing returns.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor and The Nation Network’s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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