The Edmonton Oilers are heading into potentially their best chance at contending for the Cup, and are giving Evander Kane some tough love going into the playoffs. The Oilers will need Evander Kane to be firing on all cylinders if they want to have a real chance at winning this year. However, he has had some conflict with other players on the bench in recent games. Elliotte Friedman thinks, as he revealed on his podcast, that the Oilers players are doing this on purpose. He believes that the tough love is intended to get Kane to the point that the Oilers need him to be to have success. <q>My theory is that the Oilers know if they are gonna be successful in the playoffs, they need Evander Kane, said Friedman. They need him, they need him. They don't just need him to just be moderately engaged, they need big pain in the ass Evander Kane, they need top forechecker in the league Evander Kane. They are saying 'If we wanna win the Stanley Cup this year we need a great Evander Kane and we are taking the responsibility of making sure he gets there,' said Friedman. </q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1777321703443444167'> </a></blockquote></div> Kane was most recently seen on the bench getting into it with Corey Perry, after what was speculated to be the result of a bad turnover in the offensive zone. The high standard that the Oilers have for each other is really a good sign, as long as this type of criticism doesn't cause Kane to completely shut down. We will see how his performance goes in the playoffs. As seen on Hockey Feed - <a href='https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/rumor-oilers-locker-room-giving-evander-kane-tough-love' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Rumor: Oilers locker room giving Evander Kane 'tough love.'</a>