Oilers’ Forward Expected to Miss Multiple Months Following Surgery

Forward Evander Kane of the Edmonton Oilers will miss a large chunk of the upcoming season due to surgery for a sports hernia that is planned to take place sometime in the next few days. Mark Spector of Sportsnet reports that Kane will have surgery before the end of September to repair the injury he sustained during the Stanley Cup playoffs the previous year. Despite having missed five games earlier in the season, Kane managed to play despite the injury in the postseason.

On Friday, September 13, Spector announced on X that Evander Kane would undergo surgery in the next “ten days or so” to address the damage from the sports hernia he sustained last season. “Post-surgery prognosis should shed light on the recovery period, and of course, how Oilers will approach their salary cap.” Edmonton will have $946,000 in cap space at the start of the 2024–25 season, according to PuckPedia. That amount, however, takes into consideration Kane’s $5.125 million average annual value for the season; if he is placed on Long Term Injury Reserve (LTIR), that amount may not apply. According to the Cleveland Clinic, Kane, who participated in 77 regular-season games last season, might miss six to twelve weeks, depending on the speed of his recuperation.

“Approximately 90% of surgeries, both open and laparoscopic, to fix sports hernias (athletic pubalgia) are considered successful,” the clinic stated on its website. “With post-surgery physical therapy and rehabilitation, people with a sports hernia can usually fully return to their sport or activities between six and 12 weeks.” If the healing process goes like most injuries do, Kane might be back in the middle of December or late October, missing about twenty to twenty-five games. According to the NHL Injury Database, athletes recovering from sports hernia surgery usually miss 24 games on average, with absences ranging from 9 to 52 games.

According to that data, Kane should be back in the Oilers lineup around Christmas.