With the news that Evander Kane is going to start the season on the Long-Term Injured Reserve, the opening night roster that the Edmonton Oilers carry into 2024-25 come October has become much more clear.

According to PuckPedia, the Oilers are roughly $350k over the $88 million salary cap ceiling and they still need to sign restricted free agents Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, two players who impressed with breakout performances during the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in the spring.

Having Kane and his $5.125 million cap hit on the LTIR will solve Edmonton’s cap problems for the time being, though activating him during the season would be a challenge. Of course, as we’ve seen with teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights in the past, it’s possible Kane conveniently becomes healthy enough to play when the playoffs start and the salary cap issue just sorts itself out.

Moving away from the financial implications of this news, losing Kane is a significant blow to Edmonton’s offence. A big, physical winger who plays with a mean streak, Kane scored 24 goals for the Oilers in 77 regular-season games last season despite playing through injuries. Only Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid scored more even-strength goals than Kane did last year.

The Oilers will easily cover the 32 goals scored by Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod with the production they get from free-agent additions Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner along with a full season of Adam Henrique, who was acquired ahead of last season’s trade deadline. But replacing the physical edge and forechecking ability that Kane brings to the table along with his offence will be another challenge.

The player best suited to step into Kane’s role as a power-forward in the top-six is the aforementioned Dylan Holloway. When Kane was injured during the Stanley Cup Final, Holloway moved up to play on Leon Draisiatl’s wing and came through with two goals and an assist in the team’s huge Game 4 win.

Though Holloway only has nine goals over 89 regular-season games at the NHL level, he’s a prime breakout candidate heading into next season. Holloway will turn 23 years old in September and has three seasons of experience playing professional hockey but his development has been slowed by injuries.

The Oilers selected Holloway with the 14th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft after he scored 88 points in 53 games in the AJHL. He had two very strong NCAA campaigns playing with Wisconsin but suffered a wrist injury during a Big Ten playoff game in the latter of those two seasons that delayed his debut with the Bakersfield Condors in 2021-22 until January.

Holloway started the 2022-23 season with the Oilers and was sent down to the AHL in February. He was playing only 9:35 on average during his first stint in the NHL and scored three goals and nine points over 56 games. In his first game with the Condors after being sent down, Holloway suffered a shoulder injury that sidelined him for over a month. He wound up scoring seven goals and 10 points over 12 games in Bakersfield but didn’t get another look in Edmonton that season.

Much like the previous season, Holloway started with the Oilers in 2023-24 and was sent to the AHL in the latter part of the season. He suffered a knee injury in November after falling awkwardly into the boards and didn’t return until January.

The Oilers moved Holloway to Bakersfield right before the trade deadline and he came back up before the start of the playoffs looking like a completely different player. After scoring only three goals in 32 games with the Oilers, Holloway scored 10 in 18 games with the Condors. In the final few games of the regular season, Holloway scored three goals and five points for the Oilers, passing the production he had all season with the team previously.

With Kane out, Holloway will get playing time on the wings of both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl this season. But if he’s going to be playing in the team’s top-six, he has to produce. The Oilers need Holloway to consistently be the physical, energetic, goal-scoring forward that they saw during the playoffs.