Evander Kane's agent gives the Oilers the bad news.

The Edmonton Oilers have had what I believe most would consider a relatively successful offseason thus far. General manager Ken Holland got a little lucky with both veteran goaltender Mike Smith and veteran defenseman Duncan Keith coming off the books due to retirement (or possibly long term injury reserve in the case of Smith) and also did well for himself by moving veteran forward Zack Kassian to clear even more cap space.

It seemed very much like the Oilers were gearing up for the opportunity to take a serious run at star forward Evander Kane, who was excellent for the Oilers this season, but that may no longer be in the cards for the Oilers.

On Monday morning, Kane's agent Dan Milstein revealed that his client has been granted permission to speak with opposing teams and it sounds like he is very much headed to free agency.

"We were granted permission to speak with other clubs," said Milstein as per NHL insider Pierre LeBrun. "While we are still hopeful to have a deal in place with Edmonton, we are starting the interview process with other clubs."

As Milstein says there remains a path to a deal with Edmonton, but with free agency less than 48 hours away that path may be closing rapidly.