The Fourth Period: (youtube) David Pagnotta on ‘The Latest’ on the long-term health status of Edmonton Oilers forward Evander Kane and how it plays into what they can do leading up to the March 7th NHL trade deadline.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Kate Pettersen: “Well, you mentioned Edmonton and the Oilers are second in the NHL in point percentage in their last 18 games. They’ve gone 14-3-1, so they’ve been solid.
And I wonder about Evander Kane. You have an update on him, and how much does his health impact which way the Oilers are looking over the next few months, come trade deadline?”
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Pagnotta: “Yeah, it’s going to play a big factor. What, what ends up happening with him. Now, the update is, there is no update yet. The Oilers are going to re-evaluate his status and where he’s at, health-wise. The initial prognosis was he was going to be out until the end of February. (this was before Friday’s news that he had knee surgery that will be 4-8 weeks recover)
If there have been any setbacks in his recovery, and he is going to miss the rest of the regular season? Well, the Oilers need to know that, because that could potentially free up an additional $5.25 million in cap space they can use as LTIR overage in order to add something.
We know they want to look at a defenseman. Does this now, if he is out, put them in a position to add a more profile defenseman on the back end. Can they add in other areas? Is Gibson a potential target? Does that free things up?
So that’s what the Oilers over the next couple of weeks, my understanding is, anyway, are going to re-evaluate the Evander Kane’s health status. See where he’s at, to get a realistic timeline. Is he on track? Have things been derailed a little bit? Is he not likely to come back to playoffs? Is it March? If he is back in the regular season, it’s relatively status quo, but they need to figure that out. They’d like to know sooner rather than later.”
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