Oilers Notebook: Will Evander Kane be ready in time for playoff run?

We still don’t know if Evander Kane can play Game 1 of the fourth-straight spring playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings because that’s the doctor’s call, but, in his mind and his heart, the Edmonton Oilers winger is ready and willing.

Article content

Article content

He hasn’t been in an NHL game for 308 days, going back to Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final last June 10, when he was playing on two wobbly legs and a prayer.

Article content

“If you ask if I can be ready for Game 1… I could barely skate in the playoffs last year. If you’re comparing how I feel now to last year, I’m ready to go,” said Kane, who has been on long-term injury for months but has been skating with the team, and hard, in practices for weeks. But again, no games, not even in the minors. Being thrown into an NHL playoff game will be like trying to catch a bullet train, but…

Had he thought of maybe going to Bakersfield in the AHL for a test drive? The Condors, fighting for the seventh and last playoff spot in the Pacific Division, have been wracked with wounded players, barely able to field a team, with an array of ECHL reinforcements to fill out the roster.

“It was never discussed,” said Kane.

That seems odd because Colorado Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog went to their farm club an hour away in Loveland for two games to see how his reconstructed knee held up. By all accounts, he came out of it just fine, even scoring a goal.

But can Landeskog suit up for Game 1 against the Dallas Stars? We’ll see.

Article content

Article content

“Everybody’s situation is a little different. He hasn’t played in three years. Obviously, I’ve missed a good chunk of time, but I’d like to think I’ve been really diligent and working towards coming back and being the player I know I can be. If that’s the last game (San Jose) or Game 1 (playoffs), I’m not quite sure. I’m close,” said Kane, who is somewhere between being a practice player and an NHL participant, to borrow one of Ken Hitchcock’s old lines.

He won’t be playing any league games (Monday here against the Kings or Wednesday in San Jose) because he’s on long-term injury for cap reasons.

Right now, Kane’s chances of playing Game 1 are about the same as fellow winger Trent Frederic, who came to the Oilers in a trade on March 4 but played just seven minutes in one game against the Kings before his high ankle sprain acted up.

In shape and ready

What’s the final step to Kane getting clearance to play again?

“I don’t know what that is or what it will be… Maybe I don’t want to share it, but we’re really close. I’m feeling good. I’ve put in a lot of work to not have any setbacks,” said Kane, who had abdominal/hernia surgery in late September, then another procedure to look after a troublesome knee in January.

Article content

The surgery last fall was major, with tears in his abdominals. “They’ve never done both sides at the same time. I was kind of a guinea pig in that sense. That played into taking my time (rehab), so I was gradually getting better every day,” he said.

The knee surgery must have felt like piling on.

“Ten days after I had the (abdominal) surgery… my knee felt stuck when I would stand up straight. It went away for a month, but then it happened more regularly, and it felt painful. I got an MRI, and there was a bit of a benign mass wrapped around my ACL and PCL. We got that removed. That was great,” he said.

Is he sick of practising?

“No, I really enjoy it,” deadpanned Kane, who left the recent Oilers road trip to California and Vegas to come back to be with his fiancée, Mara Teigen, and their baby girl, Penelope, who had been in the ICU. “Getting our daughter out of the hospital was nice, and the team let me come back and bring her home. A nice gesture,” he said.

What’s Kane’s expectation with his game if he plays Game 1?

Article content

“I have a lot of self-belief. Going off last year and how I felt and what I was able to do, I have a lot of confidence with how I feel now. Maybe I’d compare it to when I first came here (signed after things weren’t working with the Sharks). I kind of came off the couch and was out of shape and was lucky to get one (goal) off my skate to get me going. This year, I’m in shape, and I’m ready,” he said.

This ‘n’ that

Defenceman John Klingberg (suspected foot infection after blocking a shot) was on the ice for an optional skate before the Kings’ game. He’s on long-term injury. His timeline is he can’t play Game 1 (10 games and 24 days off), retroactive to his last game on March 27 against Seattle, but he might be a possibility for Game 2 against L.A…

Oilers college free-agent signing Quinn Hutson (Boston University), who got into his first NHL game against Kings, is ineligible to play in NHL playoff games because the right-winger wasn’t on their team’s 50-man list at the trade deadline. Interesting that Hutson played on the same line at BU with Shane Lachance, the ex-Oilers draft pick winger, who wasn’t keen to sign here, so they traded his rights to New Jersey. He signed with the Devils…

Article content

Lost in all the free-agent signings was the one-year deal for Finnish defenceman Atro Leppanen, 26, who became the first blueliner to ever lead the Liiga in scoring (63 points in 60 games). That’s something Brian Rafalski never did (53 points) when playing in Finland before going to New Jersey as a free agent. Leppanen is Jordan Oesterle’s size (6’0”, 182 pounds) and talented. He screams an early North American start in Bakersfield though to learn the smaller rinks and playing against bigger bodies. He’s an interesting story. When he was 20, he was playing in the Finnish Fourth Division in his hometown. He’s been a tire salesman and worked in a sawmill…

The Oilers may yet sign their draft pick defenceman Luca Munzenberger (U of Vermont grad) by the Aug. 15 deadline, but it looks like they’re taking a pass on his college teammate forward Joel Maatta. He’ll be a free agent this summer…

The Oilers continue to see if they can sign big (6’4”, 211-pound) Russian draft left-winger Maxim Berezkhin. He had 42 points in the regular season and has six points in six playoff games for Yaroslavl Lokomotiv…

Article content

Former Oilers winger Dennis Bonvie, the Bruins head of pro scouting, is part of the management team for Canada’s squad at the May world championship in Stockholm and Herning, Denmark…

Oil Kings goalie Alex Worthington was just signed to an amateur tryout with Manitoba Moose, Jets’ AHL affiliate…

Oil Kings’ winger Lukas Sawchyn, a likely mid-round NHL draft pick, might get picked to play for Canada’s world U18 team for the tournament starting April 23 in Frisco, Texas, a Dallas suburb. Oil Kings’ defenceman Blake Fiddler will be playing in his hometown for the U.S.

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post, and 13 other Canadian news sites. The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun

Article content