It’s safe to say the Evander Kane homecoming experiment hasn’t worked out quite the way many had planned when the Vancouver Canucks traded a fourth-round pick to the Edmonton Oilers for his services over the summer.

The Vancouver native has been fairly durable, missing just one game this season. Through 51 games, Kane has nine goals and 15 assists for 24 points with a minus-18 rating while averaging 16:53 minutes of ice time. With where the Canucks find themselves in the NHL standings, the organization has publicly made their veteran unrestricted free agents available for trade.

Kane has just one year remaining on his four-year, $5.125 million AAV contract he signed with the Oilers in July of 2022. And now that Kiefer Sherwood has been traded, Kane appears to be the next domino to fall, according to recent reports.

“I think there’s a lot of names that are out there,” Kane said. “All of a sudden, just because a member of the Vancouver media to tweet it out, we got a big scrum today. But yeah, it’s part of the process. It’s part of the way business is done at the NHL level.”

NHL Insider Kevin Weekes reported the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars were among the likely trade destinations for Kane over the weekend. And the Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta mentioned some Eastern teams have engaged in the Kane sweepstakes on Tuesday morning.

Donnie & Dhali’s Rick Dhaliwal shared that Kane’s agent has been given permission to help his client find a new home and facilitate a trade. And with the calibre of teams reportedly interested in acquiring him, Kane still has that fire to go chase playoff success.

“I don’t know if there’s a person in this room that doesn’t have a hunger to play playoff hockey. When you train all summer and come to training camp, that’s what you’re training to do. So, obviously that’s a desire for anybody, and that’s no different with me.”

While Kane was originally excited about coming home to play for his hometown team, he didn’t foresee the organization nosediving to the bottom of the league standings. He acknowledged his frustrations with how the season has gone and understands that changes come with this level of failure.

“Yeah, I think everybody’s disappointed with how the season has gone,” Kane shared. “Nobody wanted to be in last place. I don’t think anybody has that anticipation or that desire to start off a year. But it is what it is, and, you know, you have to be ready to show up to work and be a professional. I think that’s what everybody in the room has done so far. We’ll let the chips fall where they may.

“I don’t think anybody anticipated, from top to bottom, the season going the way it’s gone. So, you know, when that does happen, I think every single year with the team who’s in last place, changes happen.”

Ahead of Tuesday’s game against the San Jose Sharks, Kane skated on the fourth line right wing with Nils Höglander and Aatu Räty. The Canucks don’t appear to be close to making a trade, as he is projected to suit up in this contest. The Canucks will have until February 4 before the Olympic roster freeze kicks in. If he is not traded before then, the Canucks will have a brief 12-day window (February 23 – March 6) to move Evander Kane before the NHL Trade Deadline.

Watch Kane’s full media availability below!