Evander Kane might have played his last NHL game, and the interest keeping his career alive right now is coming from an unexpected place.
After 16 NHL seasons, the 35-year-old winger remains unsigned, and NHL teams haven't exactly been lining up this summer.
Per Sport Express, Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL is considering signing Kane, a club that made it all the way to the KHL Finals last season.
Kane posted 13 goals and 18 assists for 31 points in 71 games with the Vancouver Canucks this past season, a real return after missing the entire 2024-25 campaign with Edmonton due to injury.
He did get back for the playoffs that year, and back in 2021-22, he actually led the entire Stanley Cup postseason in goals, scoring 13 in just 15 games.
For his career, Kane has posted 339 goals and 648 points across 1,001 NHL games, adding 2,324 career hits, including a career-high 250 hits back in 2023-24.
That kind of physical, north-south game is exactly what's made him a fan favorite for years, but it's also part of why his one previous attempt at Russian hockey didn't go smoothly.
Kane's first KHL stint ended abruptly over a decade ago
Kane actually played in Russia once before, appearing in 12 games with Dinamo Minsk during the 2012-13 NHL lockout.
He was the first Canadian-born NHLer to sign in the KHL at the time, but he struggled to adjust to the wider ice surface, a real mismatch for a player built around hard-hitting, direct hockey rather than a game built on space and skating.
That history makes this potential reunion with Russian hockey a genuinely interesting gamble more than a decade later.
Nothing here is finalized. Kane hasn't signed anywhere yet, and it's entirely possible an NHL team still calls before training camp opens next month.
But with the North American market staying quiet this deep into August, a return to the KHL, on a bigger stage than his brief 2012-13 stint, is looking like a real possibility if nothing changes soon.
Source: Evander Kane Receiving Free Agent Interest From Surprising Location
Should NHL teams still be pursuing Evander Kane for a depth role this season?
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