Evander Kane Heads to the KHL After 1,001 NHL Games and a 16-Year Career

Evander Kane’s expected move to the KHL would close a 16-year NHL career built around power scoring, sharp turns in team relationships and a major playoff run in Edmonton. Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey told David Pagnotta on DFO Insider that Kane would sign with a KHL organization, with the team expected to make a formal announcement in the coming days. Milstein did not identify the club.

The move points toward an end to Kane’s NHL run after a difficult final season with the Vancouver Canucks. In 71 games in 2025-26, he recorded 13 goals and 31 points with a minus-20 rating. He reached 1,000 NHL games in late March, finishing the season at 1,001. If that proves to be his final NHL appearance, his totals stand at 339 goals, 648 points and more than 2,000 hits.

That career began with the Atlanta Thrashers, who selected Kane fourth in the 2009 NHL Draft. He joined the league immediately, posting 14 goals and 26 points in 66 games as a rookie. Kane stayed with the franchise through its relocation to Winnipeg, where his strongest regular season came in 2011-12: 30 goals and 57 points in 74 games, with a plus-11 rating. He ranked second on the Jets in scoring behind Blake Wheeler.

Winnipeg committed to Kane before the 2012-13 season with a six-year, $31.5 million extension carrying a $5.25 million average annual value. The relationship later deteriorated. Kane was scratched several times late in the 2013-14 season, and in February 2015 he was again left out after a reported dispute with teammates. Winnipeg dealt him to Buffalo a little over a week later in a large package involving seven players and a conditional first-round pick.

Buffalo gave Kane a chance to establish himself as a reliable scorer. He produced three straight 20-goal seasons, but the Sabres were struggling to compete, and they traded him to San Jose at the 2018 trade deadline. Kane chose to stay with the Sharks, signing a seven-year, $49 million deal at a $7 million annual value in May of that year.

His best San Jose stretch came in 2018-19, when he scored 30 goals and 56 points in 75 games. The seasons that followed brought repeated suspensions for on-ice incidents, then a loss of standing within the organization. Before the 2021-22 season, the NHL suspended Kane for 21 games for violating and failing to comply with NHL/NHLPA COVID-19 protocols. San Jose placed him on waivers, assigned him to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda and later terminated his contract.

Edmonton offered a quick reset. Kane signed a one-year deal for the remainder of 2021-22 and joined a lineup led by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Kane scored 22 goals and 39 points in 43 regular-season games, then added 13 goals and 17 points in 15 playoff games as the Oilers reached the Western Conference Final. That postseason run was one of the clearest high points of his late career.

The Oilers followed with a four-year, $20.5 million contract, worth $5.125 million per season. Kane missed all of 2024-25, but otherwise contributed 40 goals and 72 points in 118 games for Edmonton, plus 13 goals and 25 points in 53 playoff games. The team reached the Stanley Cup Final in consecutive seasons with him on its roster.

Edmonton’s need for additional cap space led to a 2025 trade sending Kane to his hometown Canucks. He stayed in Vancouver through the season, despite being discussed as a possible trade candidate. His 13 goals and 31 points marked a quieter finish than his earlier scoring peaks, while the minus-20 rating reflected a difficult year for the forward. Kane also remained one of the league’s few links to the Thrashers franchise, alongside Zach Bogosian.

Kane previously played for Dynamo Minsk during the 2012-13 NHL lockout, giving him some experience outside North America before this expected move. A KHL signing would carry the goal scorer into a new chapter after a career that ranged from 30-goal NHL seasons to a 13-goal playoff burst in Edmonton. The next club is still unknown, but the career record he leaves behind is already clear: 1,001 NHL games and a lasting mark as one of his era’s most forceful scoring forwards.

Photo courtesy of Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports.