Canucks acquire Evander Kane from Oilers for draft pick
Evander Kane announced in a post on X on Wednesday morning that the Edmonton Oilers have traded him to the Vancouver Canucks.
“It’s an honor to become part of an organization and team I grew up watching as a kid,” Kane wrote. “Vancouver is a city that lives and breathes hockey, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to play in front of my hometown as I did many years ago as a Vancouver Giant.”
Kane, a 33-year-old left winger, is coming off a season in which he did not play in the regular season due to injuries to two hip adductor muscles, two hernias and two lower abdominal muscles.
The veteran forward underwent surgeries last September and on January 9, and he returned to game action for Game 2 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Los Angeles Kings.
Kane’s return to Edmonton’s lineup provided the team with some crucial depth scoring, as he produced six goals and six assists in 21 games as the team made the Stanley Cup Final.
Kane is entering the final season of a contract that will pay him $4 million in salary for the upcoming season while carrying a cap hit of $5.125 million.
According to Daily Faceoff insider Frank Seravalli, Edmonton is not retaining any of the salary owed to Kane, a major boon to the team’s salary cap situation. The Oilers will receive Ottawa’s fourth round pick in this week’s draft in return.
The Vancouver native spent the past four seasons of his career in Edmonton, scoring 62 goals in 155 regular season games.
The fourth overall pick by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft has totaled 326 goals and 291 assists in his 930 career contests.
Kane was a Thrasher for two seasons before spending four in Winnipeg after the team re-located, three in Buffalo and four in San Jose before landing with the Oilers.
For the Canucks, the move brings a veteran scoring presence that is much-needed on the roster following the departure of J.T. Miller in a trade and the likely loss of Brock Boeser in unrestricted free agency.
Among players under contract for the 2025-2026 season, only Jake DeBrusk eclipsed the 20-goal mark for Vancouver, which struggled to the tune of a 38-30-14 record, missing the playoffs and regressing by 19 points in the standings from their Pacific division-winning effort in 2023-2024.