As of today, the Edmonton Oilers are a little over $300,000 over the cap. That is without Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, two players that are RFA and have not signed new contracts yet.

We know that the Edmonton Oilers and Stan Bowman, who was complicit in the Kyle Beach sexual assault and assaults of a high school and university student, need to find a way to shed cap before the season begins.

We may have that answer this morning as Bob Stauffer has tweeted out this message:

Hearing there is a very good chance that the @EdmontonOilers Evander Kane won't be ready for the start of the season...that he may require surgery...and is likely to be on LTIR to start the year

— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) August 12, 2024

Kane has struggled to stay in the lineup and make a difference when he is there over the past couple seasons. A series of unfortunate and unrelated injuries have hampered his ability to play; from the scary wrist cut from another skate, to broken ribs and a sports hernia this past season. Reports suggested that there was a good chance that Kane wouldn't start the season and may require surgery. This message from someone closely connected to the team reinforces this belief.

Moving Kane to LTIR to start the season solves a number of problems for the Oilers. The obvious issue it addresses is the cap. Moving Kane and his 5.125 million dollar cap hit to LTIR gives the Oilers flexibility to sign Holloway and Broberg, potentially to two year deals and remain cap compliant.

The second is where Kane was going to even play in this lineup. With Holloway signed, the Oilers likely run a forward core something like this:

Skinner-McDavid-Hyman
RNH-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Holloway-Henrique-Brown
Janmark-Ryan-Perry

Holloway is a young player that the Oilers need to continue to develop into a top nine and potentially top six forward. He needs to be playing with skill and not wasting away as a fourth line forward, something that could happen if Kane was playing.

The second is the fact that Kane's skillset is becoming redundant on this roster. Kane is a physical player and I know there are some individuals that put stock in that over anything else. The issue with Kane has always been that if he isn't scoring or playing with elite talent, he really isn't bringing much to the table. His defensive game is lacklustre at best and now with the additions of Skinner and Arvidsson, I don't think even a healthy Kane makes it into the top six.

I certainly have time for the Oilers adding physicality to the bottom of the lineup but that can be done at a fraction of the cost of Kane's cap.

This solves the Oilers cap concerns for as long as Evander Kane is on LTIR. The question will be how long will Kane be on LTIR. If he is out for the season than the Oilers don't need to worry about it but if he is healthy in January than decisions will need to be made.

Thanks for reading.

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