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This in from the Edmonton Oilers practice, news that Evander Kane is back on the ice today and almost certainly good to go in Game One. Adam Henrique is not yet skating, out with an ankle injury and likely to miss the first game.
My take
1. I’ve been listening to many hours of Vancouver Canucks talk radio the last few days and one of things that has stuck with me is that in Round One, the Nashville Predators lacked that wrecking ball of a player to get in and disrupt Vancouver’s carefully but firmly structured defence. That may well be the case. But it’s unlikely to be the case now that Evander Kane is back on the ice.
2. Kane had a whale of a Round One series against Los Angeles, this after he had reached his low point when it comes to his popularity in Edmonton. He sat out the last few games of the regular season, then explained to reporters that he was doing so because he had suffered a sports hernia. Fireworks erupted at once.
Evidently, this broke some taboo of hockey. Evidently a player is not supposed to admit they’re injured lest that area of their body be targeted by opponents.
Still others were outraged that Kane had also besmirched the reputation of Oilers GM Ken Holland, as it was possible if Kane had been hurt long-term, he could have gone on LTIR at the trade deadline, a la Mark Stone in Vegas, allowing Holland to trade for more players. Why had not Holland thought of this, some wondered? What had he not forced it to happen?
3. I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes with the Oilers, but I know from working with hundreds and hundreds of people for four decades in the workforce that it’s not only possible but imperative to work with all kinds of disagreeable folks, myself included in that number. You can do great work together even if you don’t like each other, even if there’s plenty of drama, jealousy, envy, conceit, arrogance, whatever fault they or I have had.
Part of being a professional is finding a way to work with folks where you don’t always see eye-to-eye, where sometimes you are in fierce conflict. Often you grumble about one another in your head or sometimes behind your colleague’s back. Sometimes you openly clash. What of it? It’s of little import. Yes, a wise person will keep it to an absolute minimum but that’s as far as it goes.
What matters for a professional is getting the job done. Solid workers keep their eyes on that prize.
Everyone has to at least be competent at their own job. But you don’t have to sing Kumbaya together.
Does Kane realize this? Yes, as he made clear after he and Corey Perry had a much publicized blow-up on the Oilers bench late in the season. Kane shrugged it off, saying: “The world we live in, everybody’s very sensitive and safe and soft, for lack of a better term, so I think when guys — two veteran guys specifically — show a little emotion, people are uncomfortable. But I think me and him are the least uncomfortable in those situations.”
4. In the first five games of the playoffs, Kane tied with Zach Hyman for most even strength Grade A shots.
5. Kane’s injury revelation also struck me as psychologically sharp, an example of positive reframing. Kane had been under close scrutiny all season, with plenty of criticism of his play. It looked like he’d lost a step, some agility. He was unable to make plays he normally did. In revealing he was injured, Kane took some of that heat off of himself. It allowed us all to see him in a more favourable light, as a player struggling through a tough injury but still doing his best and getting decent results. And this new framing made his superlative play against Los Angeles all the more remarkable. How can Kane bash Drew Doughty so many times when he’s injured like that? How can he crack so many lightning shots on net? Remarkable indeed.
6. Of course, Kane’s critics are just waiting for the right moment to reappear. Fair enough! Such is life under the microscope of NHL hockey in Canada. But he’s living rent free in their heads, just as he’s about to do with the Vancouver Canucks and their fans, at least if he can again conjure up the kind of performance he did against Los Angeles.
7. What is Kane going to do to the Canucks? If we go on past behaviour, Kane has a habit of going straight at the key physical driver of the other team and challenging him with heavy hits and fists, if necessary, be that player Matthew Tkachuk when he was still with Calgary or Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings. It appears monstrous Nikita Zadorov is that player in Vancouver.
And, of course, Kane will belt into the boards any other Canucks player he can get a piece of. If it’s a player like Quinn Hughes, expect plenty of madness in Vancouver, jubilation in Edmonton, and Kane skating off from the collision like he’s again done what he was made to do, raise hell on a sheet of ice.
“I’ve never been afraid to stick up for myself or my teammates,” Kane told US broadcaster Pat McAfee last week.
No, he has not. And this fearlessness is a key ingredient on any NHL playoff team with Stanley Cup aspirations.
8. Henrique is a major loss for the Oilers, as he’s provided steady, smart two-way play. That said, the Oilers are blessed with more depth this year than in the past. Connor Brown finished up strong this season and is ready to step in where needed. Warren Foegele was last seen on the fourth line, but if Henrique can’t play I would not be surprised to see him back in the Top Six, playing with either McDavid or Draisaitl. At the same time, Mattias Janmark is a great defender and smart with the puck, a good choice to provide excellent cover as McDavid and Zach Hyman attack.
