Surprising update on Evander Kane after Thursday’s practice!

On Thursday, Oilers forward Evander Kane was skating with his teammates at practice, but he did not take part in line rushes and was used only as an extra with Sam Carrick and Sam Gagner.

Kane played in all of Edmonton’s games in the first three rounds of the playoffs and suited up in Games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Panthers in Florida, but has been out with injury since.

Ahead of Game 5, there was hope that Kane could return though he didn’t wind up playing. When the updates on Thursday’s practice were made public, most pundits assumed Kane would not return for tonight’s game in Edmonton despite head coach Kris Knoblauch’s cryptic message:

“We’ve got some things to think about,” Knoblauch said following the team’s skate on Thursday. “I still haven’t seen a follow-up on how good [Kane] feels, but we have possibilities.”

However now hours before puck drop against Florida, Knoblauch shared a new update and called Kane a “game-time decision” for tonight’s Game 6.

Since the start of the postseason, Kane scored two goals and three points in five games against then Los Angeles Kings and went on to add two goals and four points in seven games as the playoff unfolded against the Vancouver Canucks. As the Oilers continued to push through, Kane saw his ice time average 19:20 through the first three games against the Dallas Stars, dropping down to 13:32 in Games 4 and 5.

Then, he got hit by Stars defenceman Alex Petrovic in the sixth game of the Western conference final and was out for the remainder of that contest. He did come back for the first two games against the Panthers, playing 15:22 and 10:33, but drew out of the lineup for the two most recent games.

Personally, I don’t think the Oilers should mess with a winning lineup, but I guess we will find out the team’s decision later tonight after warmup on Edmonton ice.