{"id":162027,"date":"2025-09-22T18:55:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T18:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/162027\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T18:55:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T18:55:08","slug":"evander-kane-brings-edge-experience-to-hometown-vancouver-canucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/162027\/","title":{"rendered":"Evander Kane brings edge, experience to hometown Vancouver Canucks"},"content":{"rendered":"

PENTICTON \u2014 Evander Kane<\/a> still remembers watching the Vancouver Canucks<\/a> as a kid.<\/p>\n

He has fond memories of seeing Markus Naslund<\/a>, Mattias Ohlund<\/a> and Dan Cloutier<\/a> streak across the ice in Vancouver\u2019s famed jersey. <\/p>\n

Now the bruising winger is set to skate on the same ice, playing for his hometown team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely cool to be able to put on the Canucks jersey as an NHL player,\u201d Kane said at Canucks training camp in Penticton, B.C.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe excitement has kind of been a slow build since I\u2019ve gotten traded. And I think it\u2019ll start bubbling once the first regular-season game is played.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Edmonton Oilers<\/a> dealt Kane to Vancouver on June 25 in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick. <\/p>\n

The move cleared up cap space for an Oilers team that\u2019s looking to extend superstar captain Connor McDavid<\/a>, and gave the Canucks some added offensive skill and toughness. <\/p>\n

The deal returned Kane to a city that is literally etched on his skin \u2014 the 34-year-old forward has Vancouver\u2019s skyline tattooed on his right forearm. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a place where he\u2019s seen on-ice success. <\/p>\n

Before getting drafted fourth overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009, Kane played junior hockey for the Western Hockey League\u2019s Vancouver Giants, and won the Memorial Cup in 2007. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m obviously born and raised here, played my junior hockey here, had a lot of success with the Vancouver Giants,\u201d he said. \u201dSo to be able to come back, I hope we can continue. I hope that career path that I\u2019ve had in Vancouver, in terms of on-ice success, can continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kane\u2019s NHL career has spanned 16 seasons, during which he\u2019s logged time in Atlanta, Winnipeg, Buffalo, San Jose and Edmonton, amassing 326 goals, 291 assists and 1,186 penalty minutes over 930 regular-season games. He has another 55 points (32 goals, 23 assists) in 97 playoff appearances.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Kane\u2019s) a very experienced player, and he\u2019s got a lot of seasons behind him in NHL,\u201d said Canucks centre Filip Chytil<\/a>, who lined up alongside Kane and Swedish winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki<\/a> to start training camp. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe communicate a lot on the ice about all the things, what\u2019s going on. And I think it\u2019s working so far. And we have to build that chemistry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kane didn\u2019t play a single regular-season game for the Oilers during the 2024-25 campaign as he recovered from surgeries to repair both abductors, two hernias, two abdominal tears and a knee injury.<\/p>\n

The six-foot-two, 218-pound athlete returned for Edmonton in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the L.A. Kings and contributed six goals and six assists in 21 post-season games before the Oilers fell to the Florida Panthers<\/a> in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final.<\/p>\n

Kane\u2019s ample playoff experience will be a big add for Vancouver\u2019s team, said Canucks assistant coach Brett McLean<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no question that that\u2019s something that you only gain from being there. And he\u2019s been there two years in a row now. So that\u2019s huge for our group, and especially for our young guys,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During the first days of training camp this fall, Kane showed he\u2019s a leader who plays with a physical edge and a high level of compete, McLean added. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to carry that (compete) on through the entire season, and you only realize that once you go through it like he has,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

As another NHL season looms, Kane is looking to recapture one of his childhood memories \u2014 albeit from a different vantage point. <\/p>\n

He still remembers being in the rink now known as Rogers Arena for a Canucks playoff game as a kid. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to be in that atmosphere,\u201d he said. \u201dThere\u2019s that towel waiting for you in your seat, you\u2019re looking for the Canucks to score that first goal, or when they come on the ice, and everybody\u2019s waving the towel. It was such a cool atmosphere. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you kind of, as a kid, envision yourself on the ice and want to do that one day. And hopefully this year, I can be able to do that.\u201d <\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2025.<\/p>\n

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PENTICTON \u2014 Evander Kane still remembers watching the Vancouver Canucks as a kid. He has fond memories of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-162027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}