So your favourite hockey team just acquired Evander Kane&#8230;
The reaction was immediately mixed after news broke Wednesday morning that the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/combinations">Vancouver Canucks</a> had struck a deal with the Edmonton Oilers to bring the veteran forward to Vancouver.
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Some fans loved the deal, pointing to Kane&#8217;s snarl and scoring ability, while others are concerned about Kane&#8217;s past reputation as someone not always well-liked in NHL locker rooms. Here are some of my immediate thoughts on the deal.
<blockquote>What the Canucks do next will affect how we look back on this trade</blockquote>
After this trade, some will say Kane becomes the Canucks&#8217; second or third best forward. And depending on how much you dislike Elias Pettersson and/or Connor Garland, you might even put him at number one.
That&#8217;s great news for Evander Kane, but not so great for the Canucks.
As we&#8217;ve written for most of this offseason, the Canucks need to acquire 2-3 forwards to pull off the miracle offseason they hope to. Those forwards are going to be of varying quality. If Kane is the third-best forward the club acquires, then this is more than a tidy piece of business. But if a Kane trade and a Pius Suter re-signing is all this team has up its sleeve? Then that&#8217;s just not enough for a team that made it clear they wanted to significantly upgrade their forward group this offseason.
But a Kane trade, Pius Suter signing (or another move to shore up the centre position), and a trade for a young premier player like Marco Rossi or JJ Peterka? That&#8217;s an offseason restructuring that fans can get behind.
<blockquote>The Canucks paid market value for a cap dump </blockquote>
One of my initial reactions to this trade was shock that it was the Canucks giving up a fourth-round pick, and not the cap-strapped Oilers attaching a pick to thank the Canucks for doing them a favour as they prepare for Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard to take up more money on their books next season.
But with at least three other teams reportedly in the mix, the Oilers could have easily taken another team&#8217;s deal and left the Canucks still searching for forward help.
Further, we don&#8217;t have to look far into the past for an example of a recent cap dump. The Dallas Stars unloaded the final year of Mason Marchment&#8217;s $4.5 million cap hit to the Seattle Kraken for a third and a fourth round pick. The Canucks obviously paid less than this for Kane, but that&#8217;s likely due to the uncertainty &#8212; both on and off the ice &#8212; that comes with acquiring Kane. All in all, it seems they paid market value for a <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/size-toughness-vancouver-canucks-allvin-officially-announces-evander-kane-trade">player they&#8217;re clearly excited about</a>.
<blockquote>This must be the end for Brock Boeser </blockquote>
Look, we&#8217;ve known for a while that Brock Boeser&#8217;s time as a Canuck was coming to an end. <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/it-sucks-boeser-doesnt-feel-return-vancouver-canucks-likely">Even Boeser himself said</a> towards the end of the season that he felt it was unlikely that he&#8217;d be back next season.
But the Kane deal certainly feels like the final nail in the coffin.
<a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/boston-bruins-among-teams-pursue-vancouver-canucks-brock-boeser-nhl-free-agency-report">Boeser will have no shortage of suitors on July 1st</a>, and with very few high-end forwards available &#8212; and potentially even fewer with Sam Bennett expected to re-up in Florida &#8212; he&#8217;s almost certainly going to get a contract too rich for the Canucks&#8217; liking when all is said and done.
<blockquote>An Oilers perspective </blockquote>
When a move like this happens, one of my first moves is to go see how the player&#8217;s departing fanbase feels about the trade and about the player. Here is what my colleague <a href="https://oilersnation.com/author/camlewis">Cam Lewis from OilersNation.com</a> had to say about Kane:
<blockquote>&#8220;After missing the entirety of the 2024-25 regular season, Evander Kane proved that he could still be a difference-maker when he returned to the Oilers in the playoffs this spring.
The big winger was very noticeable during Edmonton&#8217;s run through the Western Conference, scoring five goals and 11 points in 15 games against the Kings, Golden Knights, and Stars.
That wasn&#8217;t the case during the Stanley Cup Final. Kane scored a goal in Game 2 but was held off the scoresheet otherwise. He took 32 minutes in penalties throughout the series and his physical edge didn&#8217;t have an impact against the Florida Panthers.
All in all, the Canucks are getting an inconsistent player with considerable upside. Kane can be a force on the ice, a power-forward who can come through in tight situations with big goals and who can tilt the direction of a game with his physical play. He can also disappear for long stretches at a time, especially when opponents don&#8217;t engage with him.&#8221;</blockquote>
Hey, that&#8217;s a heck of a lot better than what <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/could-viktor-arvidsson-smart-buy-low-trade-candidate-vancouver-canucks">Baggedmilk told us about Viktor Arvidsson yesterday</a>.
<blockquote>Kane brings swagger and edge to a team that hasn&#8217;t had it since Nikita Zadorov left </blockquote>
It&#8217;s no secret that I was a big fan of Nikita Zadorov. It&#8217;s also no secret that losing the swagger and toughness that Zadorov brought to the Canucks absolutely hurt this team in 2024-25.
While Kane certainly isn&#8217;t Zadorov, he does bring an undeniable swagger and edge to this team that was sorely missing last year. And him riding shotgun with Elias Pettersson? That could work…
Now, the minor penalties…? That could be a problem.
<blockquote>This is a low risk, high upside bet</blockquote>
As we&#8217;ve been saying for a while now (and even said earlier in the article), the Canucks need to make some bets this offseason, and they&#8217;re going to need to get lucky along the way. They also need goals. Kane gives them goals, and in a contract year, he could give them a lot of goals.
Kane will be motivated. Motivated to not only put up solid numbers, but to be on his best behaviour off the ice and in the locker room as well. For all his faults and concerning track record, the Canucks should be getting the best version of Evander Kane that we&#8217;ve seen in a while.
And if it doesn&#8217;t work out? If Kane can&#8217;t score, and is an absolute wrecking ball in the dressing room? Then he&#8217;s only here for one year, and maybe even less than that if the Canucks choose to ship him out at the trade deadline. The point is, the team will have options, and all in all, this a low-risk high upside bet from the Canucks.
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So your favourite hockey team just acquired Evander Kane...

The reaction was immediately mixed after news broke Wednesday morning that the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/combinations">Vancouver Canucks</a> had struck a deal with the Edmonton Oilers to bring the veteran forward to Vancouver.
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Some fans loved the deal, pointing to Kane's snarl and scoring ability, while others are concerned about Kane's past reputation as someone not always well-liked in NHL locker rooms. Here are some of my immediate thoughts on the deal.
<blockquote>What the Canucks do next will affect how we look back on this trade</blockquote>
After this trade, some will say Kane becomes the Canucks' second or third best forward. And depending on how much you dislike Elias Pettersson and/or Connor Garland, you might even put him at number one.

That's great news for Evander Kane, but not so great for the Canucks.

As we've written for most of this offseason, the Canucks need to acquire 2-3 forwards to pull off the miracle offseason they hope to. Those forwards are going to be of varying quality. If Kane is the third-best forward the club acquires, then this is more than a tidy piece of business. But if a Kane trade and a Pius Suter re-signing is all this team has up its sleeve? Then that's just not enough for a team that made it clear they wanted to significantly upgrade their forward group this offseason.

But a Kane trade, Pius Suter signing (or another move to shore up the centre position), and a trade for a young premier player like Marco Rossi or JJ Peterka? That's an offseason restructuring that fans can get behind.
<blockquote>The Canucks paid market value for a cap dump </blockquote>
One of my initial reactions to this trade was shock that it was the Canucks giving up a fourth-round pick, and not the cap-strapped Oilers attaching a pick to thank the Canucks for doing them a favour as they prepare for Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard to take up more money on their books next season.

But with at least three other teams reportedly in the mix, the Oilers could have easily taken another team's deal and left the Canucks still searching for forward help.

Further, we don't have to look far into the past for an example of a recent cap dump. The Dallas Stars unloaded the final year of Mason Marchment's $4.5 million cap hit to the Seattle Kraken for a third and a fourth round pick. The Canucks obviously paid less than this for Kane, but that's likely due to the uncertainty -- both on and off the ice -- that comes with acquiring Kane. All in all, it seems they paid market value for a <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/size-toughness-vancouver-canucks-allvin-officially-announces-evander-kane-trade">player they're clearly excited about</a>.
<blockquote>This must be the end for Brock Boeser </blockquote>
Look, we've known for a while that Brock Boeser's time as a Canuck was coming to an end. <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/it-sucks-boeser-doesnt-feel-return-vancouver-canucks-likely">Even Boeser himself said</a> towards the end of the season that he felt it was unlikely that he'd be back next season.

But the Kane deal certainly feels like the final nail in the coffin.

<a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/boston-bruins-among-teams-pursue-vancouver-canucks-brock-boeser-nhl-free-agency-report">Boeser will have no shortage of suitors on July 1st</a>, and with very few high-end forwards available -- and potentially even fewer with Sam Bennett expected to re-up in Florida -- he's almost certainly going to get a contract too rich for the Canucks' liking when all is said and done.
<blockquote>An Oilers perspective </blockquote>
When a move like this happens, one of my first moves is to go see how the player's departing fanbase feels about the trade and about the player. Here is what my colleague <a href="https://oilersnation.com/author/camlewis">Cam Lewis from OilersNation.com</a> had to say about Kane:
<blockquote>"After missing the entirety of the 2024-25 regular season, Evander Kane proved that he could still be a difference-maker when he returned to the Oilers in the playoffs this spring.

The big winger was very noticeable during Edmonton's run through the Western Conference, scoring five goals and 11 points in 15 games against the Kings, Golden Knights, and Stars.

That wasn't the case during the Stanley Cup Final. Kane scored a goal in Game 2 but was held off the scoresheet otherwise. He took 32 minutes in penalties throughout the series and his physical edge didn't have an impact against the Florida Panthers.

All in all, the Canucks are getting an inconsistent player with considerable upside. Kane can be a force on the ice, a power-forward who can come through in tight situations with big goals and who can tilt the direction of a game with his physical play. He can also disappear for long stretches at a time, especially when opponents don't engage with him."</blockquote>
Hey, that's a heck of a lot better than what <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/could-viktor-arvidsson-smart-buy-low-trade-candidate-vancouver-canucks">Baggedmilk told us about Viktor Arvidsson yesterday</a>.
<blockquote>Kane brings swagger and edge to a team that hasn't had it since Nikita Zadorov left </blockquote>
It's no secret that I was a big fan of Nikita Zadorov. It's also no secret that losing the swagger and toughness that Zadorov brought to the Canucks absolutely hurt this team in 2024-25.

While Kane certainly isn't Zadorov, he does bring an undeniable swagger and edge to this team that was sorely missing last year. And him riding shotgun with Elias Pettersson? That could work…

Now, the minor penalties…? That could be a problem.
<blockquote>This is a low risk, high upside bet</blockquote>
As we've been saying for a while now (and even said earlier in the article), the Canucks need to make some bets this offseason, and they're going to need to get lucky along the way. They also need goals. Kane gives them goals, and in a contract year, he could give them a lot of goals.

Kane will be motivated. Motivated to not only put up solid numbers, but to be on his best behaviour off the ice and in the locker room as well. For all his faults and concerning track record, the Canucks should be getting the best version of Evander Kane that we've seen in a while.

And if it doesn't work out? If Kane can't score, and is an absolute wrecking ball in the dressing room? Then he's only here for one year, and maybe even less than that if the Canucks choose to ship him out at the trade deadline. The point is, the team will have options, and all in all, this a low-risk high upside bet from the Canucks.

Sponsored by bet365
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6 thoughts after the Canucks trade for Evander Kane

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