Oilers Looking To Sign Evander Kane Long Term

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S. Harper
April 5, 2022 (9:35 PM)

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So far so good between the Edmonton Oilers and forward Evander Kane. After his past troubles with almost everywhere Kane's played, he seems to be behaving and Oilers GM Ken Holland is loving him.

The Oilers who are hoping to make the playoffs and even take a serious run this season, despite the one question Ken Holland didn't fix and that's goaltending. Instead of goaltending Holland had his eyes on San Jose Sharks and Evander Kane situation. While there were many teams interested in Kane's services, the Oilers were always the front-runners.

Now Oilers general manager Ken Holland is looking into what he needs to do to have the cap space to re-sign Kane.

Kane has had a huge impact on the Edmonton Oilers ever since he signed for the remainder of 2021-22 as an unrestricted free agent after the San Jose Sharks voided and bought out his contract.

The challenge for Holland is facing is cap space. The Edmonton Oilers have a projected $74.3 million invested in 15 active roster players next season. With limited cap space Ken Holland will need to pull some moves to re-sign Kane for a longer tenure.

Lyle Richardson of The Hockey News mentions that:

«Placing permanently sidelined Oscar Klefbom on long-term injury reserve would provide some extra wiggle room.»

But he maintains it will remain tough for Edmonton to make it work.

Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal fears that the Oilers will have to make some hard decisions about younger players such as Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto, both set to become restricted free agents this summer.

Ken Holland is going to have to make trades he normally wouldn't make including the possibility of Players like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins possibly being traded.

Keep an eye on the Edmonton Oilers this off-season because Ken Holland looks like he is going to be wheeling and dealing at all cost to keep Evander Kane.

The question will remain what about goaltending?