Evander Kane brings edge, experience to hometown Vancouver Canucks

PENTICTON – Evander Kane still remembers watching the Vancouver Canucks as a kid.

He has fond memories of seeing Markus Naslund, Mattias Ohlund and Dan Cloutier streak across the ice in Vancouver’s famed jersey. 

Now the bruising winger is set to skate on the same ice, playing for his hometown team.

“It’s definitely cool to be able to put on the Canucks jersey as an NHL player,” Kane said at Canucks training camp in Penticton, B.C.

“The excitement has kind of been a slow build since I’ve gotten traded. And I think it’ll start bubbling once the first regular-season game is played.”

The Edmonton Oilers dealt Kane to Vancouver on June 25 in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick. 

The move cleared up cap space for an Oilers team that’s looking to extend superstar captain Connor McDavid, and gave the Canucks some added offensive skill and toughness. 

The deal returned Kane to a city that is literally etched on his skin — the 34-year-old forward has Vancouver’s skyline tattooed on his right forearm. 

It’s also a place where he’s seen on-ice success. 

Before getting drafted fourth overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009, Kane played junior hockey for the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants, and won the Memorial Cup in 2007. 

“I’m obviously born and raised here, played my junior hockey here, had a lot of success with the Vancouver Giants,” he said. “So to be able to come back, I hope we can continue. I hope that career path that I’ve had in Vancouver, in terms of on-ice success, can continue.”

Kane’s NHL career has spanned 16 seasons, during which he’s logged time in 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.

“(Kane’s) a very experienced player, and he’s got a lot of seasons behind him in NHL,” said Canucks centre Filip Chytil, who lined up alongside Kane and Swedish winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki to start training camp. 

“We communicate a lot on the ice about all the things, what’s going on. And I think it’s working so far. And we have to build that chemistry.”

Kane didn’t play a single regular-season game for the Oilers during the 2024-25 campaign as he recovered from surgeries to repair both abductors, two hernias, two abdominal tears and a knee injury.

The six-foot-two, 218-pound athlete returned for Edmonton in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the L.A. Kings and contributed six goals and six assists in 21 post-season games before the Oilers fell to the Florida Panthers in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final.

Kane’s ample playoff experience will be a big add for Vancouver’s team, said Canucks assistant coach Brett McLean. 

“There’s no question that that’s something that you only gain from being there. And he’s been there two years in a row now. So that’s huge for our group, and especially for our young guys,” he said.

During the first days of training camp this fall, Kane showed he’s a leader who plays with a physical edge and a high level of compete, McLean added. 

“You’ve got to carry that (compete) on through the entire season, and you only realize that once you go through it like he has,” he said. 

As another NHL season looms, Kane is looking to recapture one of his childhood memories — albeit from a different vantage point. 

He still remembers being in the rink now known as Rogers Arena for a Canucks playoff game as a kid. 

“You want to be in that atmosphere,” he said. “There’s that towel waiting for you in your seat, you’re looking for the Canucks to score that first goal, or when they come on the ice, and everybody’s waving the towel. It was such a cool atmosphere. 

“And you kind of, as a kid, envision yourself on the ice and want to do that one day. And hopefully this year, I can be able to do that.” 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2025.