Evander Kane officially placed on LTIR

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Finnegan Frost
October 9, 2024 (7:49)

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Breaking news out of the Oilers organization as the Edmonton Oilers have officially placed forward Evander Kane on LTIR.

Although this breaking news comes as no real surprise to Oilers fans, this announcement has major cap implication for the team moving forward into the regular season. According to Oiler Alert, this doesn't necessarily mean Edmonton will be operating out of LTIR this year. They'll still accrue cap space as long as they stay below $88M. This just allows them flexibility to use the LTIR pool later in the year if needed (at which point they'd lose any cap space they accrue).

The Edmonton Oilers have also announced they loaned forwards Matt Savoie & Cameron Wright to the the Bakersfield Condors. These are strategic moves in order to maximize the team's current salary pool.

Liam McCormick adds that Kane revealed to the media before last playoffs began that he was dealing with a sports hernia through the majority of last season. Although he still had a good season by scoring 24 goals in 77 games, Kane's play clearly suffered through the year due to the injury, and the problems only got worse in the playoffs. In the Cup Final, Kane was scratched for the final few games because the injury was affecting his play so much.

Oilers Insider Jim Matheson revealed on X (formally known as twitter) some timelines that have Oilers fans cringing. As it stands, Evander Kane will be sidelined for the next 4-6 months. Jim Matheson suggests that Evander Kane's rehabilitation will extend far beyond the NHL trade deadline, and fans can bet that Kane will not be returning to the team until the 2025 post season in April.

Kane, 33, registered his ninth-career 20+ goal season during the 2023-24 campaign with the Edmonton Oilers. His 24 goals were good for fourth on the Oilers with Zach Hyman (54), Leon Draisaitl (41) and Connor McDavid (32) as the only three players ahead of him.