Canucks Preseason Profile
Evander Kane
34-year-old, left-shot left wing
6-foot-2, 220 pounds.
Yes PP, No PK
Hometown lad Evander Kane returns to Vancouver to continue his NHL career with the Canucks at age 34.
The former Vancouver Giant, a 16-year-old on the Memorial Cup winning roster in 2007, who played two games in that tournament, returns to put a stamp on what’s been a momentous journey. That would be for some of the wrong reasons and for some of the right reasons.
It took him awhile to grow up, potentially because things came so easy for him. A phenom in youth hockey, he later set scoring records for his major junior club before being selected 4th-overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2009 NHL Draft. After the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg, Kane ran into a bit of trouble and was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in 2015.
Without going through the laundry list, he’s been involved with assault accusations, a civil suit, a squabble within the Jets dressing room, and a laundry list of issues after later joining the San Jose Sharks in 2018.
For purposes of expediency, and to “get over it”, we’ll end the list here.
After overcoming earlier career maladies, injury adversity hit him in a big way in September, 2024, before the start of his fourth season with the Edmonton Oilers, a team he joined in January of 2022 after being released by the Sharks. Kane underwent surgery for two torn hip abductor muscles, two hernias and two torn lower abdominal muscles and missed the entire 2024-’25 regular season.
He recovered in time to appear in last season’s playoffs, posting six goals and six assists over 21 games.
Maturity-wise it appears things have changed. After an informal Canucks skate on Wednesday, Kane sounded like a saavy veteran, talking about taking advantage of getting to know his teammates during training camp in Penticton.
“You have that down time, that free time to get to know the guys, go for lunches, go for dinners,” he said. “It’s a nice foundation to start from and then obviously once you get on the ice, building chemistry with guys on the ice and kind of integrating your game with other people’s games will help early, to hopefully start the season off well.”
Ultimately Kane still brings a lot to the table. The Canucks can definitely used his physical presence up front and they would love to have him contribute as much as possible offensively.
Over his last three NHL regular seasons with the Oilers he averaged 21 goals and 37 points per season. In the 2022 postseason Kane was putting up Conn Smythe Trophy type numbers before his club bowed out in the Western Conference Final to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche. He was on fire with 17 points, 13 of them goals, in 15 playoff games.
Outside of the fact he’s fallen just short of winning his first Stanley Cup the last two seasons, Kane should be motivated by playing for his hometown Canucks, and by starting the season just 70 games away from reaching 1,000 for his career.
“It’s funny, you look at the list of guys in the league who have played a thousand games and it’s a lot shorter than you’d think,” he said. “To have that opportunity is obviously great, obviously I missed all of last season, but to have a chance to do it here in Vancouver in front of my friends and family would probably be a little extra special.”
Healthy, happy and well behaved would be the simple magic formula to get there.
Earlier Canucks:
— Canucks Blueger Battles On With Rumours
