If you can get past the fact Evander Kane will soon be 34-years-old, if you can stomach the fact he makes $5.125M against the salary cap, if you are somehow able to process the notion that his body has been put through the wringer over 16 National Hockey League seasons leaving legitimate questions about what’s left in the tank and if you can set aside his checkered past and many questionable decisions away from the rink, well then, the Vancouver Canucks may have just landed a player that some fans feel they can get behind.
Without hesitation, Kane arrives in Vancouver with a reputation as a guy who simply wears out his welcome wherever he goes. He is a player with a clear shelf life, and this is a transaction that is draped in red flags. But through all of that, the hope has to be that the power of a contract season keeps Kane focused and brings out the best of whatever he has to offer at this stage of his career.
“Well, I think the past is in the past with Evander,” Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin said on Wednesday. “This gives us a chance – and him a chance – to see if this is a fit moving on here and I’m sure hoping so after this year.”
If Evander Kane wants a contract beyond the final year of his current deal, he’s going to have to go out and earn it with performance on the ice and exemplary behaviour away from the rink. And at no point during the season should the Canucks entertain the idea of extending the player. Keep that next contract – if there is one – as a dangling carrot so that Kane has to push every fibre of his being to the end of the regular season.
In Edmonton, Kane had no choice but to fall in line with a team that has had its eyes on the prize for a few years now. The very real chance to win the Stanley Cup seemed to limit the noise around Kane, and by all accounts, he understood and accepted his place in an Oiler locker room where Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl called the shots.
In Vancouver, things are different. Locker room strife was the story of last season, and it’s unclear if all of the dust from the JT Miller-Elias Pettersson drama has fully settled. Now, a potentially volatile Evander Kane has been added to the mix. On that level alone, it seems like a curious addition to the clubhouse.
But, maybe, it’s another fresh start for Kane, who has done the fresh start thing more than a few times. Vancouver will be his sixth NHL home base and fifth franchise (Atlanta became Winnipeg, and he transferred with the team before going on to play in Buffalo, San Jose and Edmonton).
“Based on his last two years in Edmonton there hasn’t been any issues,” Allvin said. “I know we did our due diligence talking to players and previous staff members. I have no problem with personalities as long as they perform on the ice and fit in with team rules off the ice. I have no issues or concerns with what players are wearing or how they’re driving to the games.”
Injuries prevented him from playing a single regular season game in 2024-25, but Kane still managed a respectable six goals and 12 points in 21 playoff contests. When he’s on, he is a pain to play against and brings size, skill and an edge to a team that can use all of those things.
With career highs of 30 goals and 56 points, Kane has never been a prolific producer in the NHL. What he has been is a remarkably consistent 20-goal and 40-plus point guy who made opponents aware every time he stepped on the ice.
At times in the playoffs, he showed flashes of that player, but he also went through stretches where it was safe to question how much he truly had left in the tank. Through the ups and downs, the Oilers outscored opponents 16-13 with Kane on the ice at 5-on-5 in the postseason.
From the hockey perspective there really isn’t much risk in it for the Canucks. They aren’t a stacked team, and Kane has a chance to come in and help the hockey club if he can do the things he’s done for most of his career. He isn’t being acquired as a star-level player and won’t be looked at to drive offence at the top of the lineup. But he has the potential to add some snarl to the team’s middle-six group of wingers. The hope is he’s not snarling at his own teammates by midseason.
Another concern has to be if things don’t go well for the Canucks this season, how does Kane react? Does he remain interested and devoted to the cause, or does his past catch up with him at some point, and does he go rogue?
In some ways, the addition of Kane feels like a desperate attempt to patch a hole in the line-up that could have been left open for any one of a number of high performers that guided Abbotsford to the Calder Cup. Then again, Evander Kane is far more decorated and has shown an ability to move the needle at the NHL level far more than any of Linus Karlsson, Max Sasson, or Arshdeep Bains ever has. And there will still be opportunities for those players at training camp. Kane simply represents one more obstacle for those forwards to overcome.
And so while the angst in the market is fully understandable, the bottom line is that this deal has the potential to work out just fine for the Canucks. After a colourful career of drawing attention to himself, Evander Kane is coming home and hopefully can just blend into familiar surroundings in a city he knows well. Ideally, he won’t be the focal point for the Canucks on many nights. This is a player who doesn’t really need to stand out for the right reasons. He simply can’t stand out for the wrong ones.
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