Kevin Bieksa shares his thoughts on Evander Kane potentially joining the Oilers.

National Hockey League star forward Evander Kane is now technically an unrestricted free agent and as a result of that there have been a lot of rumors regarding where he will end up playing hockey this season. Over the course of the last several days the most prominent rumor has linked him to the Edmonton Oilers organization and on the surface at least it would be a move that makes sense.

After a hot start to the season the Oilers have faltered badly down the stretch, so bad in fact that they have played themselves right out of the playoff picture and would now need to make up significant ground just to get back into that picture. Kane however is a controversial figure and not everyone loves the idea of adding him to the team, and over the weekend former NHL defenseman Kevin Bieksa shared his thoughts on the move.

Interestingly enough Bieksa had a pretty nuanced take on the whole situation and even approved of the Oilers potentially adding him to the mix, but that was something he clearly did not believe to be universally true for every team in the league.

"Just being honest and frank, if I am on the Edmonton Oilers I welcome him, I want him there and they need something. They need some sort of spark, some sort of life," said Bieksa during Saturday night's NHL broadcast. "If I'm on a lot of other teams I don't want him there, I don't want him in my dressing room, I don't want him disrupting whatever chemistry that we have."

Kane reportedly alienated some of his former teammates on the San Jose Sharks so much that it is rumored some of those players went to Sharks general manager Doug Wilson to ask that Kane be traded off of the team. For that reason it's not hard to imagine why Bieksa would recommend some teams shy away from him, but he believes the Oilers have a strong enough leadership group to handle someone like Kane on their roster.

"I also think it takes a strong leadership group to have a player like that on your roster," said Bieksa. "I think he walks into Edmonton, he's humble pie. He's got Connor McDavid, he's got Leon Draisaitl in there, there's a respect. They are two of the best players in the world. He walks into Anaheim he's got Ryan Getzlaf who is the imposing captain, there's respect there. Some of these other team's that don't quite have that leadership in place, I would worry about bringing him in."

You can check out Bieksa's full comments and those of his fellow panelists in the video below: