Evander Kane’s return to his hometown of Vancouver has not exactly been a royal homecoming. But he might still end up a King of the Pacific Division all the same.

Fans and media alike have been split on the possibility of the Canucks selling Kane at or prior to this year’s Trade Deadline. On the one hand, Kane is a fairly frequent and recent 30-goal-scorer with a long history of playoff success and a traditionally postseason-friendly playstyle. He may be mired in the worst statistical season of his career with 21 points in 46 games, but that’s at least partly due to the team’s struggles as a whole. Nine of those 21 points are five-on-five primary assists, which leads the Canucks.

On the other hand, this is Evander Kane we’re talking about, and few names in the NHL come with more baggage attached to them. Not only that, this is now a 34-year-old Kane we’re talking about, and he’s definitely begun to show that age in 2025-26 after having missed the entire 2024-25 regular season.

Fortunately, the latest rumours sound as though the rebuilding Canucks might be able to get something back for Kane by simply selling him off to the same GM who signed him to this current contract in the first place. That GM is Ken Holland, formerly of the Edmonton Oilers, but now in charge of the Los Angeles Kings.

An LA Kings-centric blog, Mayor’s Manor, reported this week that Holland had begun “kicking tires” on a Kane reunion, writing that “Over the past week, two separate sources told Mayor’s Manor they believe Kings general manager Ken Holland is exploring the possibility of a Kane trade.”

Holland and Kane have a long history. After the San Jose Sharks attempted to terminate Kane’s contract for violation of COVID-19 safety protocols – and somewhat succeeded, albeit with a small cap penalty – Kane found himself a free agent partway through the 2021-22. Holland and the Oilers snapped him up to a one-year deal with a prorated $2.1 million cap hit. Kane turned in 39 points in 43 regular season game and then 17 more in 15 playoff games, earning himself a four-year, $5.125 million AAV extension. Kane is currently playing out the final year of that contract.

Holland and Kane’s time together featured four playoff runs, including the two most recent trips to the Stanley Cup Finals – though he’d never again reach the scoring heights of that first run. Kane was a key physical presence for the postseason Oilers at times, and did provide some timely goals.

And now, Holland must be thinking that Kane can do the same for the Kings, who find themselves in the running for a wildcard spot in the Pacific Division.

There’s no doubt that the Kings need some offensive assistance. They’ve got a -10 goal differential on the season, and through 47 games, only two Kings have passed the 30-point threshold (Adrian Kempe with 37 and Kevin Fiala with 33). One might question whether or not Kane is truly any solution to that problem at this point in his career, but we suppose Holland would have a more informed opinion on that than most. If he believes Kane will help his team, then at the very least that’s a bet he’s been right on before.

That also probably means that, whatever offers the Canucks do get for Kane, the strongest is probably going to come from Los Angeles. So what might the Canucks expect to get back?

Anyone who has memories of the Kings being named as the team with the best cupboard of future assets in the NHL, and who might be salivating at the possibility of picking up a choice prospect, should pump the brakes. The Kings’ system is not what it used to be, and it never really delivered on all that promise, anyway.

Their true quality prospects are all a little too rich to fit into a Kane trade, including recent first rounders Liam Greentree and Henry Brzustewicz (brother of Hunter) and goaltender Carter George. Beyond that trio, they’ve got a couple other goalies that would be of middling interest in Hampton Slukynsky and Erik Portillo. Other than that, it’s a handful of moderately interesting offensive prospects like Kristian Epperson (a draft re-entry selected in the third round last year), Vojtech Cihar (an 18-year-old playing in the top Czech men’s league), and Koehn Ziemmer (a former Prince George Cougar making his pro debut). None of these names are particularly exciting, but any of the forwards could probably make for a reasonable return for Kane and hold at least a chance of panning out at the NHL level. Each has the approximate value of a third round pick.

One might expect the Kings to have a bunch of other young, borderline NHLers around the periphery of their roster, but they don’t, really. That promised LA pipeline never yielded much hockey oil, and so if it’s not a prospect being returned for Kane, it’s probably just actual draft picks.

On that front, the Kings are well-stocked, at least. They’ve got their own first rounders for the foreseeable future, though no one is expecting one of those back for Kane. Nor are they expecting a second rounder, even though the Kings have two this year.

But the Kings do also have two third round picks in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, and at that point, we’re getting into the right sort of range for Kane. If the Canucks can’t pry the Kings’ own third loose for Kane, maybe they can at least get the Dallas Stars’ third, which projects to be later in the round.

If the Kings plan on making multiple acquisitions, they may want to shed some salary somewhere along the way, and the Canucks could theoretically help them out with that. Maybe taking back a bad contract, like the expiring one attached to former Canuck Andrei Kuzmenko, could be a way to increase the value offered.

At worst, the Canucks might have to settle for breaking even, as in trading Kane for a fourth round pick, just as they paid for him at the start of the year. But given the Holland connection, one can hope for just a little bit more. A third sounds pretty good, and so does one of those forward prospects with the same rough value as a third.

The Canucks can’t expect to get the moon back for Kane. But let Kane’s old GM kick tires long enough, and they could still wind up getting more back than they paid for him in the first place, and that would be a minor victory.