Oilers trade Evander Kane to Vancouver Canucks
Posted June 25, 2025 9:31 am.
Last Updated June 25, 2025 3:31 pm.
The NHL’s trade season has arrived, and on Wednesday, two Pacific Division rivals made a swap.
The Edmonton Oilers traded veteran forward Evander Kane to the Vancouver Canucks, both teams announced.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the news.
Kane is in the final year of his contract, which has a $5.125 million cap hit.
In return, the Canucks are sending a 2025 fourth-round draft pick to the Oilers, who aren’t retaining any salary in the trade.
In a statement, Kane expressed gratitude to the Oilers organization and fanbase for his time in Edmonton.
“I want to take a moment to sincerely thank the entire organization, my teammates, and the incredible community of Edmonton. …Your support meant everything, and I’ll always be grateful for the chance to compete in the blue and orange,” Kane wrote. “To my teammates—thank you for the battles, the friendships, and the memories. I’ll always remember the playoff runs, the highs and lows, and the pride of going to war with a special group of guys.”
The 33-year-old missed all 82 games during the regular season, recovering from multiple surgeries. Following his 10-month absence, Kane would go on to score six goals and 12 points in the Oilers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final.
Kane joined the Oilers in 2022 after his contract with the San Jose Sharks was terminated.
He would score 62 goals and 111 points in 161 games with the Oilers and added another 26 goals and 42 points in 68 playoff appearances. Through 930 career NHL games, he has 326 goals and 617 points after being drafted fourth overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009.
The Vancouver native returns home after playing his junior career in the WHL with the Giants.
“I’m incredibly excited for the next chapter of my career as I join the Canucks,” Kane said. “It’s an honour to become part of an organization and team I grew up watching as a kid. Vancouver is a city that lives and breathes hockey. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to play in front of my hometown as I did many years ago as a Vancouver Giant.”
Sportsnet 650 Canucks Central host Satiar Shah tells 1130 NewsRadio that the fourth-round pick the Canucks are sending to the Oilers is actually the same pick they acquired last year when Vasily Podkolzin went to Edmonton.
“The Canucks add one of the forwards they’ve been looking for without paying a high cost for acquisition,” Shah explained.
But Shah says there will be a lot of question marks around the move.
“Evander Kane has worn out his welcome on every team he’s played in before,” Shah said.
“We know that he’s obviously from Vancouver and played for the Giants many years ago, and obviously has ties to the market. So the hope is he comes here and is on his best behaviour. But drama has followed Evander Kane pretty much throughout his career, and the hope is that he can be on his best behaviour here for the final year of his contract before whatever else he decides to do.
“But that’s going to be the question; always has been the question for Evander Kane — how is he as a teammate, and can the environment be good enough for him to stay there beyond a short period of time?” Shah said.
Considering the ongoing questions over team cohesion and culture, which culminated in a mid-season trade of J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers, Shah hopes Kane coming to the Canucks won’t continue the off-ice drama.
“That’s what makes this deal a little bit surprising, because the Canucks wanted to move forward and change the culture and create an environment that had a positive culture moving forward,” he explained.
“And in many ways, Evander Kane is seen as somebody who doesn’t help that type of environment move forward. So it’s going to be really interesting to see how he fits in and whether Evander Kane can be a positive influence on a team that needs to have a lot of positive things moving forward.
“When we talk about character, that’s one thing that we talked a lot about with the team last year. They had personal turmoil on the team, couldn’t keep it together, and that’s a big reason why they had a tough year.”
Shah doesn’t see the acquisition of Kane as an “aggressive move,” explaining that it’s probably a move made more so do to with cost in a tough trade market.
“I think one of the reasons they’ve gone down this road is because the cost is cheap, and they’re trying to make their team better, and they have to take some risks one way or another.”
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With files from Mike Lloyd.
