SAN JOSE – Former Sharks forward Evander Kane hasn’t had any issues fitting into his new surroundings, averaging nearly a point per game for the Edmonton Oilers as they continue their push for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Before Tuesday’s game between the Sharks and Oilers at SAP Center, Kane had 28 points, including 16 goals, in 31 games with the Oilers since he signed a one-year contract with them on Jan. 27. He’s third on the team in that time behind Connor McDavid (47 points) and Leon Drasaitl (42).
“He just finds ways to score,” Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said of Kane. “He’s always in the right spot to get a chance to score.”
The Oilers (40-25-5) entered Tuesday in third place in the Pacific Division with 85 points, three points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights, who held the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
With Kane, Edmonton has gone 19-9-3 for a .661 points percentage, the sixth-best in the NHL since Jan. 28.
“Evander Kane has very good habits. I think he has a high hockey intelligence,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said Tuesday morning. “He makes good plays with the puck, he’s at his best when he’s physical, and being physical doesn’t always just mean running someone through the end wall.
“It’s winning the 50/50 battle to body position, it’s willing to go to the blue paint and stop and take the abuse that you might invite by doing so. I’ve been very impressed with Evander.”
Kane’s production in his first two-plus months with the Oilers is reminiscent of how well he played in his first few weeks with the Sharks more than four years ago.
After he was acquired by the Sharks on Feb. 26, 2018. Kane had 14 points in 17 games as the Sharks went 11-5-1 down the stretch and finished third in the Pacific Division that season. San Jose later lost to the Golden Knights in the second round of the playoffs.
The Sharks that offseason signed Kane to a seven-year, $49 million contract, which the team terminated in January for what it believed was Kane’s material breach of the deal as well as his violation of AHL COVID-19 protocols.
The NHL Players’ Association filed a grievance on his behalf, and the matter is expected to be heard by an independent arbitrator this summer. There remains a chance the Sharks will have to take back part of Kane’s contract and have it count against their salary cap.
Kane was booed by Sharks fans every time he touched the puck on Feb. 14 when San Jose lost at home to the Oilers 3-0. Kane didn’t have a point that night but scored an empty-net goal in Edmonton’s 5-2 win over the Sharks on March 24.
“He’s moved on, we’ve moved on,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “We’ve played these guys since he moved to Edmonton. I don’t think there’s a lot of drama behind this game by any means.”
Kane had 166 points in 212 career regular-season games with the Sharks, and 13 points in 29 playoff games. Kane had not been in a playoff series before he came to San Jose.
“The types of goals that are scored in late April, May, and June are of a certain variety,” Woodcroft said, “and I think Evander Kane does a lot of really good things that lead to offense, and I think he’s an underrated defensive player as well.”
LINEUP CHANGES: The Sharks are inserting forward Jonah Gadjovich and defenseman Ryan Merkley in place of Jonathan Dahlen and Nicolas Meloche for Tuesday’s game.
Merkley was a healthy scratch Saturday in the Sharks’ 5-4 loss to the Dallas Stars but figures to be paired with Marc-Edouard Vlasic against the Oilers. Meloche had played in 25 of the Sharks’ last 26 games, averaging 16:52 of ice time per game mainly on the Sharks’ third defense pair.
Boughner said Meloche will be back in the lineup on Thursday when the Sharks host the Calgary Flames.
“He brings physicality, he brings intensity,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said of Meloche. “This isn’t a decision based on his game whatsoever, it’s just that we’ve got eight healthy (defensemen) and it’s a numbers thing. I had that discussion with him this morning. He should feel good about the way he’s played and established himself.”
Dahlen missed five games from March 22-31 after he was hit in the face with a puck in a March 20 game against Arizona. In his return on Saturday, Dahlen started on Logan Couture’s line but was later moved down and finished with just 9:36 of ice time.
NABBY RETURNS: Sharks goalie coach Evgeni Nabokov returned to the team on Tuesday after an absence due to family commitments, Boughner said. Dany Sabourin, the Barracuda’s goalie coach, had been filling in for Nabokov in recent days.
