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Edmonton Oilers' Kane making steady progress in injury comeback

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
|
Feb 22 2025, 4:52 pm
Edmonton Oilers' Kane making steady progress in injury comeback
Jasen Vinlove/Imagn Images

Evander Kane is making progress.

The Edmonton Oilers forward, who has yet to play this season, has begun skating.

As per Jason Gregor of Sports 1440, Kane has been on the ice the past two days. He still needs time before he really begins to ramp things up, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Kane has been banged up dating all the way back to last season, where he admitted to reporters before the playoffs began that he was dealing with a sports hernia. His injuries seemed to worsen throughout the postseason, and resulted in him sitting out several games of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Oilers forward originally opted not to get surgery in the offseason, believing he would be ready to go at the start of the 2024-25 campaign after taking a few months to rest and recover. Unfortunately, that didn’t go as planned.

Another strange twist of events occurred in January, when the Oilers announced that Kane had recently undergone a knee procedure. It wasn’t expected to change the course of his original timeline, but did have some suspecting the Oilers may leave him on long-term injured reserve until the playoffs got underway.

That could still turn out to be the plan, as these past few days are believed to be the first time Kane has hit the ice.

Though keeping him on LTIR would give the Oilers some cap space heading into the trade deadline, Kane is a player this team could really use. When at his best, he not only provides goal scoring, but a physical element that gives the Oilers an edge over the vast majority of their opponents.

Given how early it is in Kane’s return to the ice, we may not get a further update in the immediate future, but some more clarity over his status and potential return will likely be provided ahead of the trade deadline in roughly two weeks time.

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