Why didn't Evander Kane have surgery over the summer?
NHL insider Mark Spector recently announced that Evander Kane will be undergoing surgery in the next 10 days to repair a sports hernia suffered last season.
Evander Kane is scheduled to have operation done, and his scheduled return to play is projected to be around Christmas time. Having Evander Kane on LTIR or IR for that amount of time is significant and puts the Oilers in a tough spot.
With that being said, if the injury was sustained months prior and surgical intervention was inevitable, why wasn't this issue addressed during the summer time? Jim Matheson form the Edmonton Journal gives his take on the subject.
Matheson: So, why wait until now for the surgery, which, if he's out three months, would have him returning sometime in January after practices and such.
Good question. It could have been done in July or August after Kane's last playoff game was Game 2 of the finals (10 ½ minutes ice-time), and after he had nursed the problem, missing practices to save himself for the games.
If Kane is only out three months, LTIR doesn't give the Oilers the same trade deadline push as Vegas had last season with Mark Stone and his spleen issue. They stashed him there and traded for Tomas Hertl last March and Stone returned for playoffs.
According to Matheson, Kane and his camp wanted to avoid surgery at all costs. Perhaps Kane felt that his injury could have been corrected via physical therapy during the NHL offseason, but unfortunately this was not the case.
Matheson also suggests that Kane potentially wanted to avoid surgery during his downtime, as this may have impacted the quality time he could have spent with his family during the Oilers very brief offseason.
Regardless, Kane will be having surgery done within the next few days. Only upon successful completion will the Oilers have a better idea if LTIR is on the table.
source: Edmonton JournalHow will Evander Kane's sports hernia surgery impact the Edmonton Oilers?
| POLL | ||
17 SEPTEMBRE | 81 ANSWERS Why didn't Evander Kane have surgery over the summer? Was it a bad idea to wait this long for surgery? | ||
| Yes | 47 | 58 % |
| No | 34 | 42 % |
| List of polls | ||
