The Edmonton Oilers have traded winger Evander Kane to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2025 fourth round pick, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported Wednesday.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the Oilers and Canucks working on a trade, and then Kane himself broke the news himself, confirming the deal.
Seravalli confirmed the full return, which will see the Oilers retain no salary and receive a 2025 fourth-round pick that originally belonged to the Ottawa Senators. Kane was No. 7 on Seravalli’s latest Trade Targets list.
Trade details:
To #Canucks:
Evander Kane
To #Oilers:
OTT 2025 4th Round Pick
No salary retained, Edmonton clears $5.125 million off the books.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 25, 2025
Kane, 33, returns to his home town, and the city where he played WHL hockey for the Vancouver Giants. Entering the final year of a four-year, $5.125-million AAV deal, the Oilers looked to trade Kane ahead of the NHL’s Trade Deadline, as just days before it, his full no-movement clause turned into a 16 team approved trade list.
The Oilers entered the off-season with just under $12-million in cap space, according to PuckPedia, but much of that money was earmarked for a raise for restricted free agent Evan Bouchard. Now, the deal leaves the Oilers with $17.087-million in cap space, allowing them to open up options for themselves as free agency nears.
In Kane’s statement, he called it an “honor [sic] to become part of an organization and team I grew up watching as a kid.”
As my time with the @EdmontonOilers has now come to a close, I want to take a moment to sincerely thank the entire organization, my teammates, and the incredible community of Edmonton.
To the Oilers Ownership, front office, coaching staff, and trainers—thank you for believing in… pic.twitter.com/huOxax5FxK
— Evander Kane (@evanderkane) June 25, 2025
He joined the Oilers as a free agent in January 2022 on a one-year, prorated deal after being released by the San Jose Sharks, and went on to score 22 goals and 39 points in 43 regular-season games. The power forward made his mark in the playoffs that year, scoring 13 goals and 17 points in 15 games, as the Oilers were swept in the Western Conference Final by the Colorado Avalanche. Kane would score 62 goals and 111 points in 161 regular-season games for the Oilers, adding another 26 goals and 42 points in 68 playoff games.
During his time with the Oilers, Kane would suffer two major injuries: one partway through the 2022-23 season, in which his wrist was accidentally cut open by the skate of then Tampa Bay Lightning forward Pat Maroon. The injury kept him out of the Oilers lineup from early November until the middle of January.
In the 2023-24 season, Kane suffered from multiple abdominal injuries that hampered his production as the playoffs began, forcing him out of the lineup by the time the Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Final.
Kane missed all of the 2024-25 season as he recovered from a September surgery which saw him go under the knife to have two abdominal muscle tears, two hernias and torn adductors on both hips. He underwent another surgery in January to remove a “congenital tumour-like growth” on his knee.
After sitting out Game 1 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year, he drew into the Oilers lineup for the other 21 post-season games, scoring six goals and 12 points. While he showed he remained an effective player through the first three rounds of the playoffs, Kane took himself out of the Stanley Cup Final after getting into penalty trouble.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.