Oilers free up valuable cap space with Kane trade during crucial off-season ...Middle East

EDMONTON — As the Evander Kane era sidles into its Lamborghini and zooms west towards Vancouver, he leaves behind the gift of cap space — $5.125 million of AAV with no money retained. Every penny destined for the pockets of Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, Trent Frederic and a goalie to named later.

The first domino of the Edmonton Oilers off-load off-season fell on Wednesday, as general manager Stan Bowman went back to the well that delivered Vasily Podkolzin for a fourth-rounder a year ago, sending Kane to the Vancouver Canucks for a fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft.

It is the first step in a series of moves Bowman has telegraphed this summer, the next being a deal that moves Viktor Arvidsson’s $4 million out, followed by the signing of Trent Frederic in the range of $3.75 million, to Evan Bouchard’s next contract — and eventually to The Big One:

The signing of Connor McDavid.

But before we take you down the path Bowman hopes to walk this summer — one that includes a goalie who can lend a genuine belief that the position has been upgraded — let us review the tenure of a player who was acquired amidst controversy, but mostly turned the narrative around over three-and-half seasons in Edmonton.

Kane finished with 62-49-111 in 161 games as an Oiler — fifth in points among forwards despite only playing in 56 per cent of regular-season games, mostly due to a pair of serious injuries.

Kane led all Oilers forwards in penalty minutes during his time in Edmonton, but that didn’t always live up to his “unicorn” status as that tough power forward who has become a rarity in our game. Kane had just four major penalties as an Oiler while leading all forwards with 73 minors, culminating in a handful of costly minor penalties in the Stanley Cup Final that marks his final act as an Oiler.

Kane was an above-average finisher in Edmonton, but not great defensively or at the finer points of the game. His board work, working a cycle, or making the dull, effective play that winning teams have to make was never Kane’s thing, a legit top-six left winger who somehow never found chemistry next to either of the top-six centremen in this town.

That is probably the final nail in Kane’s time here — that he never forged a lasting on-ice bond with ether Connor McDavid or Draisaitl. We all know, if they’d have preferred Kane stay, someone else would have been a Canuck today.

Kane — who turns 34 in August — arrived like a cyclone, with 22 goals in his first 43 regular-season games and a 13-goal post-season in 2022. But he never quite recaptured that level of production, even as he embedded himself in the community here, growing a family and getting involved in Edmonton.

So Kane exits as he arrived, from an Oilers team making transactions aimed at making up that final, most difficult part of the journey.

Not only must Bowman sign his pillars, he has to acquire the requisite support players to bring home two more wins than the Oilers won last season — all while changing out a goodly portion of the team.

Between a salary cap that is going up roughly $7 million, Kane’s $5.1 million, Arvidsson’s $4 million, Jeff Skinner’s $3 million and John Klingberg’s $1.75 million will free up nearly $21 million for Bowman — assuming he can move Arvidsson with no retention.

Draisaitl’s AAV goes up $5.5 million to $14 million, as his new eight-year deal kicks in in 2025-26. Bouchard’s AAV could go up as much as $6.5 million in a new deal — from $3.9-$10.4 million, while signing Trent Frederic will add another $1.5 million to last season’s cap.

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That’s $13.5 million for those three players — with the spectre of McDavid’s raise on the horizon, something Bowman can do the math on next summer.

So there is $7 million, give or take, to beef up the bottom six and add that goalie.

Matt Savoie will slide in at just $886,000 next season and given a chance to earn a spot. David Tomasek — the 29-year-old Czech who led the Swedish league in scoring last season — is a longshot to hold a spot as a right-shot centre, but worth the shot. Noah Philp is likely ready to be a 4C, again, at low cost.

It’s doable, but the level of success will hinge on one or two veteran NHL players taking less than their market value with the promise of winning a Stanley Cup as an Oiler.

And if the lineup that opens the season for Edmonton inevitably has a hole or two in it, well, that’s where the trade deadline comes in.

It’s a matrix, building a Stanley Cup winner. One that the Oilers have been oh so close to solving.

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