Worse than expected for Evander Kane in Edmonton!

During the offseaon, there was quite a bit of debate when it came to Evander Kane’s injury and what the Edmonton Oilers believed it was. Earlier this summer, Oilers president Jeff Jackson revealed that Kane was battling a sports hernia, and that both camps are evaluating his situation for his future in Edmonton. On Wednesday, Kane confirmed that he will miss the start of the regular season as he needs to undergo surgery soon, and on more than just one issue. He revealed that the surgery will be to repair two torn hip adductor muscles, two hernias and two torn lower abdominal muscles.

“I’m having a lot done, Kane said. “I have two hernias and two torn abdominal muscles.”

“I felt something was wrong in late October, I noticed something, and it just kind of slowly got worse over time,” he added. “Probably in December or January it was getting much worse. But at the same time, the thing with this injury is that some days you feel better than others. Obviously in the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs, by the time we got around to that, it wasn’t any better, it was getting severely worse. At the same time you’re trying to do anything you can because you want to give yourself and your teammates the best opportunity to win. That’s what I was trying to do.”

The bulk of the injuries stem from Kane playing through a sports hernia last season. While it was not mentioned when the surgery or surgeries would happen, Kane said that they will take place in the next couple of days.

General manager Stan Bowman would only state that the winger will be out “a while” when asked for a timeline for his return to the Oilers’ roster.

“He’s going to be out for a while,” Bowman said. “I don’t want to speculate on that. I think our doctors will be able to give you a better handle on that, but he’s not going to be here for a while.”

Bowman stunned many when he said the Oilers will not put Kane on long-term injured reserve unless required later in the season. Kane has two more years on his contract at a $5.125 million average annual value, and is set to become an unrestricted free agent following the 2025-26 campaign. He spent the last three seasons with the Oilers, signing in the middle of the 2021-22 season, after a controversial departure from the San Jose Sharks.

“We have the salary cap room, he’ll be on the regular roster,” Bowman said of Kane. “As we get into the season, if we run into a number of injuries that are shorter term in nature and we need to bring bodies up, then we have the flexibility to put him on long-term injury. But part of the reason we made the moves we did over the summer is so that we would not be required to start the season with long-term injury and that hasn’t changed.”

When asked about his decision to undergo surgery late in the offseason, especially after Jim Matheson wondered if Kane simply didn’t want to ruin his vacation, Kane explained:

“For me, it was something that took a little bit of time to digest, and I’m supposed to be talking to the best of the best and they all have three different opinions, it can be all confusing when you’re not a surgeon yourself. It definitely helped talking to a couple of guys around the League, Sean Monahan being one of them, and he was real insightful and gave me some good feedback from his experience.”

Since he was selected fourth overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009, Kane has 326 goals and 617 points in 930 regular-season games with the Thrashers, Winnipeg Jets, Buffalo Sabres, Sharks and Oilers, and 43 points in 76 playoff games.