Life can come at you fast sometimes, especially in the National Hockey League.
If one year ago, somebody would have told you that Corey Perry and Evander Kane would be playing for the LA Kings in 2026, most fans would have said you’re beyond crazy.
Soon after being hired as LA’s General Manager last offseason, Ken Holland did what many thought was the unthinkable — he signed Perry as an unrestricted free agent. Truth be told, after a summer of hand-wringing and social media posturing, it’s turned out to be a good addition to coach Jim Hiller’s club.
Could Holland be on the verge of attempting to strike gold again by adding another former Oilers forward to the Kings current group?
While it’s still a rumor — something we don’t normally spend too much time on, but this was just too intriguing to not stop and give it pause for a few minutes — two separate sources over the past week have said they believe Holland is kicking the tires on a potential Kane trade.
This is a guy who has 27 points (13G, 14A) in 37 career regular season games against the Kings. That isn’t why Holland would add somebody like Kane to LA’s roster. An acquisition like that is all about the playoffs.
Putting aside the fact the Kings have stumbled their way through the Pacific Division for much of the last six weeks. Just briefly, assume they qualify for postseason play.
With that in mind, perhaps there is a little bit of ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’ going on with this thought process. Warren Foegele helped beat the Kings in the playoffs when he was with the Oilers. Ditto for Perry. Both are now in LA, as Holland has all but been given a mandate of ‘Beat the Oilers’ in the playoffs at just about any cost necessary.
Standing 6-foot-2 and checking in at 220 lbs., Kane plays a hard and heavy game. He was a nuisance to the Kings long before his four-year run in Edmonton. Now 34 years old, he’s also spent time with several other organizations over the past 15+ years, including Winnipeg, San Jose, and Buffalo.
Kane has been a central figure in the Kings-Oilers playoff matchups each of the last four years. Even after missing all of the 2024-25 regular season due to injuries (and being on LTIR), there he was in the playoffs. Late April saw his return to the Oilers lineup, just in time to meet up with the Kings.
With LA up 4-3 heading into the third period of Game 3 — and leading the series 2-0 — it was Kane’s goal that tied things up and helped springboard Edmonton to a crucial victory.
He also played an important role in Game 5. The Kings jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but it was Kane who tied things up just a few minutes later. The Oilers never looked back, winning the game and later closing out the series.
Fast forward to just a few days before July’s free agency window opened, Edmonton traded Kane to Vancouver for a fourth-round pick. He’s currently in the final year of his contract, which carries an AAV of $5.1M. That’s a number Holland and LA can easily absorb given their current cap space.
With the Canucks now openly talking about entering a rebuild, Kane’s name will most certainly start to gain attention in the rumor mill. Keep in mind, he does hold a 16-team Approved Trade List, so he’ll have some input into where he ends up should he be on the move again soon.
Could a reunion with Holland, Perry, and Foegele be in the cards? The whispers are there, we’ll have to see where it goes between now and the NHL Trade Deadline in early March.
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