Best Way for Oilers to Manage Kane’s Injury and the Salary Cap

As one might expect thanks to some slightly complicated math that revolves around the salary cap, LTIR, and accrued cap space, it can be a bit difficult to figure out what the Edmonton Oilers might do when it comes to Evander Kane‘s injury situation. He’s expected to be out for months, but maybe not long enough to miss the entire 2024-25 NHL regular season. That leaves the Oilers with a few options.

The common assumption among fans is that the Oilers will stash Kane on LTIR and search the market for another player. That could be what they do if they feel they need to fill a huge hole or start to struggle out of the gates.

But, there are some drawbacks to doing so and it has to do mostly with how accrued cap space is calculated in the NHL.

Why It Helps the Oilers Not To Operate Out Of LTIR to Start the Season

When a team operates out of LTIR (which would be the case if Edmonton stuck Kane on LTIR to start the season), they don’t accrue cap space. To accrue means to have sums of money or benefits be received in increasing amounts over time. That’s important to remember if the team wants to be active at the trade deadline.

For fans who aren’t familiar with this process, as per Puck Pedia:

“A team’s cap hit is calculated based on each day of the season (186 days). For every day a player is on the roster, the team’s cap hit is their full year cap hit divided by 186.” 

In other words, the cap space a team has going into the season matters. For example, around $1 million in cap space to start to season is worth a lot more later in the year or by the trade deadline. In Kane’s case, if the Oilers avoid putting Kane on LTIR, they can start to accrue cap space on the approximately $946K Edmonton has in cap space when the season begins. If nothing changes and they maintain this same cap space, by the trade deadline, that’s around an additional $4 million.

The moment the Oilers operate out of LTIR, they can’t access the accrued space.

So What Should the Oilers Do with Kane?

If the team can stay above water and have a solid record without Kane on the roster and an expensive replacement, that’s best. This gives Edmonton time to build up more cap space and spend more at the deadline. If they put Kane on LTIR at the deadline because they learn he won’t be back, the team can make two moves to gain as much as $9 million in deadline space.

First, they could use the cap space accrued on someone (roughly $4 million). Then, they can put Kane on LTIR and get most of his $5.25 million in cap space as well. Once they have access to it, they can add another $5 million player at the deadline and bring Kane back in the playoffs with no cap repercussions.

That’s by far the better play if the Oilers can avoid having to acquire someone earlier in the season the blue line or at forward. And, if they learn Kane will be back before the playoffs, the Oilers can use the accrued cap space before bringing Kane back.

Next: Oilers’ Coach Explains Preseason Lineup Choice vs. Jets