VANCOUVER — Evander Kane is relishing the opportunity to join his hometown team, one he feels is close to being competitive with a desire to win now.
The Vancouver Canucks acquired the bruising 33-year-old winger from the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday in exchange for a fourth-round pick (117th overall) in this week's NHL Draft.
Kane has one year left on the four-year, US$20.5-million deal he signed with Edmonton as a free agent in January 2022.
"Family, proximity. And I think, obviously, coming to a team who wants to win," he mentioned as the driving factors in joining Vancouver. "This ownership group, this management group, they want to win and they want to win now.
"Playing against them in the playoffs two years ago, it was one game away and maybe they're in the Cup final. I don't think we're too far off."
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said in an availability Wednesday he wanted to make the Canucks a tougher team to play against, and that head coach Adam Foote was involved in the move.
Vancouver missed the post-season in 2024-25, finishing fifth in the Pacific Division just one year after taking the division crown.
"I've played that (physical) style ever since I was eight years old here in Vancouver," said Kane, who donned a suit in Canucks colours for the press conference. "Nothing's going to change when it comes to how I play and what I bring on the ice. I'm very confident in what I could do and I think Vancouver's going to provide me a good opportunity to do that."
The six-foot-two, 218-pound forward did not play a single regular-season game in the 2024-25 campaign as he recovered from surgeries to repair both abductors, two hernias, two abdominal tears and a knee injury.
However, he returned for Game 2 of the first round, and contributed six goals six assists in 21 games during the Oilers' second consecutive run to the Stanley Cup final.
"Being able to get my body right, having the surgeries I had and get back to 100 per cent was a nice kind of reset for me," Kane said of missing the regular season. "Obviously, missing the whole year and having to jump into the playoffs is never easy but I kind of drew on my experience from the year before playing hurt.
"For me, the time off and getting healthy has kind of allowed me to roll the clock back a little bit, in my opinion, and I think hopefully than can translate onto the ice."
Kane played junior hockey for the Western Hockey League's Vancouver Giants before getting picked fourth overall by the Thrashers in the 2009 draft.
Over 16 NHL seasons, he has logged time with Atlanta, Winnipeg, Buffalo, San Jose and Edmonton, amassing 326 goals, 291 assists and 1,186 penalty minutes over 930 regular-season games. He has another 55 points (32 goals, 23 assists) in 97 playoff appearances.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 26, 2025.
The Canadian Press
