At long last, the Edmonton Oilers may finally have some clarity on Evander Kane’s status.

The rugged winger has spent the season on the Long-Term Injured Reserve rehabilitating from abdominal surgery he underwent in September and a knee surgery in January, granting the Oilers $5.124-million in LTIR Pool cap space.

It hasn’t been known as to when Kane would be able to return to the Oilers lineup, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reporting earlier this week the 33-year-old he wanted to play games in the regular season, and that there may have been a “disagreement” between the player and team. On Wednesday, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli opined the Oilers were still operating on a dual track, but felt it was unlikely the team was to spend that additional salary cap space.

But on Thursday, the firmest report about Kane’s potential status came forth with TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reporting that “it’s perhaps becoming more apparent that a return at playoff time is more likely.”

This opens up many options for the Oilers ahead of Friday afternoon’s trade deadline as if Kane were to return in the regular season, the team would need the cap space to add Kane’s full cap hit back to the active roster. That, however, isn’t the case if Kane returns in the playoffs, as the salary cap is foregone in the post season. The Oilers have already dipped into the LTIR pool but have $3.7-million in remaining cap space ahead of the deadline.

Kane had a full no-movement clause change to a 16-team approved list late last week, with Oilers general manager Stan Bowman reportedly calling teams on the list to gauge potential trade interest in him.

Bowman got some work done on Tuesday, acquiring Trent Frederic and Max Jones from the Boston Bruins. While the former is still working his way back from a lower-body injury, with a timetable to play still up in the air, Jones will make his Oilers debut Thursday night as the Montreal Canadiens come to town. He’ll play on the fourth line alongside Kasperi Kapanen and Max Jones.

If the Oilers are able to spend that remaining $3.7-million, it’s expected that the team will be in the market for, at the very least, an upgrade on the blue line, and potentially more.

Teams have until 1:00 p.m. MST on Friday to make trades if they want those players to be eligible to play in the playoffs.

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.