It All Comes Down to This For Vancouver Canucks Winger Evander Kane

"It's a really important year for Evander Kane. Like the Canucks are not only reliant on him, he's the only NHL forward they added this summer, despite the fact they went into the summer looking for 2 to 3, including a second line center. He comes after the substitution of Pius Suter, who signed a pretty team-friendly contract with St. Louis. I mean, a lot of recriminations there. I was okay. I thought Evander was a worthwhile reclamation project. I didn't love they had to take him on full ticket from the Edmonton Oilers at more than $5 million. We were told that there were three teams that really, really wanted him and that was the cost of acquisition. Edmonton didn't want to retain. Okay, fair enough, but then you saw the Suter salary come in and you went 'wait a second' and he can play center and he's a primary penalty killer. To me, that was not a good trade for the Vancouver Canucks this summer." Price said.

He added, "Beyond that, personally, Evander's in the final year of his contract, he's looking to extend his career, right? So, he's got a big stake in this, the Vancouver Canucks have a big stake in him. I was willing to give him the veteran card through preseason, he said he didn't fancy playing a single preseason game. I was willing to give him all of those passes, those veteran passes in preseason, fair enough, but if he comes out slow, you know, then I think he might have some recriminations there too, right? Maybe you did need to push it a little more, maybe the coaching staff did need to push him a little more."