Evander Kane has missed the entire season so far for the Edmonton Oilers and now a new report has provided major insight on his potential return. Earlier this month insider <a href='https://www.hockeylatest.com/nhl-team/edmonton-oilers/nhl-insider-elliotte-friedman-reveals-a-concerning-return-date-for-oilers-evander-kane' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Elliotte Friedman gave an update on Kane's status admitting the team would be patient with his recovery.</a> Kane was initially expected back sometime in January or February leaving him with plenty of time to get back into form before the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin. Now as the calendar is about to flip to February Kane remains out leading Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic to provide the latest news regarding his return. <h3>New Report Casts A Shadow Over Evander Kane's Return Changing the Oilers Plans</h3> In his latest news round-up around Evander Kane reporter for <a href='https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6087154/2025/01/25/oilers-hearing-trade-deadline-plans-2025/' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>The Athletic Daniel Nugent-Bowman</a> gave a significant update on what he expects the Oilers to do with Kane. According to Nugent-Bowman, his sources indicate that the Oilers do not expect Kane back anytime soon still. The new timeline would bring Kane back for the Stanley Cup Playoffs as of now but also provide the Oilers with over 5 million more dollars in salary cap space for this season. The belief around the organization right now it's unlikely Kane will play before the postseason. Should that happen, the Oilers could have a little more than $5 million in cap space to use before the deadline Of course, the Oilers would love to have Kane back as soon as possible so he can get up to speed and back to playing at a high level. However, if Kane is going to be out until the start of the playoffs it does provide the silver lining of extra salary cap space for the Oilers to go all in this season. As long as Kane can come back and play at a high level without regular season games to get himself in rhythm this could almost be a better-case scenario for the Oilers from an organizational standpoint. Nugent-Bowman admits that the Oilers are still evaluating the situation and likely won't need to have an answer on Kane's ability to play in the regular season until the end of February when planning for the NHL Trade Deadline will need to be in full swing. The Oilers don't need to know, or even need a much better idea, if Kane can play in the regular season until around the end of February or the beginning of March This likely means the next couple of weeks will be key for Kane if he is hoping to play regular season games this season he will have to take some big strides forward.