Evander Kane one-on-one: On his last days an Oiler, race in hockey and why he chose the Canucks

National Post

10-07-2025

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Then Brad Marchand scored the overtime winner in Game 2, and the series changed. Kane's dad, Perry, and Marchand's dad, Kevin, played together on the junior Dartmouth Arrows team in Nova Scotia, but Kane said he only found out about it when asked about it during the Cup final. There was no deep relationship between the families.
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'The next game, it could have went either way as well,' said Kane. 'You know, we jump out to a bit of a lead and it's just one of those things that, if you get up two to nothing, maybe the series changes a little bit. I think really where the series turned was Game 5; we didn't play the type of Game 5 we needed to play. Coming back, tied 2-2, we could have ensured at least we have a Game 7 on home ice. I didn't think we had our best game, but in a big way. And then, Game 6 it just seemed that when they got opportunities, they scored. And then their goalie made a big save.
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'I think the whole series, both Cup finals, you know, their goaltender (Sergei Bobrovsky) stole some games for them. He was elite, and you look at their team, they've got big, mobile defencemen, great goaltending and they've got a deep forward lineup with some top-end talent. You could have said the same thing about our team was as well, or be very close to that. That's why we were in the Cup final back-to-back years. So the margins in both series were so small. And I think the second time both teams were better. It was tough to lose, but we were right there.'
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Kane is thrilled his family will be able to attend all of his home games. His dad is still active in hockey, and runs Spot On Hockey, which works to give instruction and encouragement to players of colour. He's brought that program to Edmonton, as well.
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'He donates ice and instructors and gives kids, basically, a free opportunity to learn the game of hockey and work on their skills and get better,' said Kane. 'And there's nobody more passionate about minorities and getting them involved in a game that he loves.'
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And will his dad see a lot of home wins? Kane believes this Canucks team is close to getting back to where it was two seasons ago, when it won the Pacific Division and was ousted in the second round of the playoffs by the Oilers after a wild, physical seven-game series.
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'We played Vancouver in the second round in the first year we went to the Cup final,' said Kane. 'And we had to take them to Game 7, and we squeaked it out. Vancouver, only two years ago, they could have been in the final. They were probably the toughest series, believe it or not, that whole playoff, including Florida. I mean, we got down three in Florida, but then we won three straight, right? Yeah. Canucks were probably our toughest series over that whole year. If you look back at that, obviously they had a bit of an off year last year, I think that it's more than realistic to be back in the playoffs and be contending.
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