Mark Stone is about as refined as his final identify.
Ask the Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone what he thinks about X or Y, and he’ll fearlessly empty his ideas on the desk, provocative as they might be. That was the case a couple of weeks in the past when, on the NHL Player Media Tour, he fielded some questions on his group’s continually altering roster.
On new top-six winger and soon-to-be iron man streak holder Phil Kessel:
“When I first saw him, I was expecting him to be 300 pounds, overweight, and he’s the furthest thing from it,” Stone mentioned. “This guy can throw weight around in the gym. He’s one of the underrated strong guys I’ve ever seen. He’s been unreal. Brings a great dynamic to the locker room. Still skates like the wind, still snaps the puck as hard as I’ve seen, so I’m excited for him.”
On star heart Jack Eichel, who joined the Golden Knights in the course of final season following a blockbuster commerce and restoration from disk substitute surgical procedure:
“I’d never met him – definitely thought he was a bad guy from all the reports, and it couldn’t be further from the truth,” Stone mentioned. “This guy works harder than anyone, wants to win more than anyone and just wants to be part of a team that has success. There’s a lot of false narratives out there about this guy. I think he’s going to have a big-time year for us.”
Thank you, Mr. Stone. He doesn’t precisely have a fragile contact together with his phrases, but it surely most likely fits him completely to his job. Stone, 30, leads the NHL’s most ruthless, no-nonsense franchise. If you stand in the way in which of the Golden Knights’ crazed pursuit of the Stanley Cup? You’re getting pushed out to the desert like Joe Pesci on the finish of Casino.
Beloved dressing room presence? Sorry, Nate Schmidt and Paul Stastny. We wished Alex Pietrangelo in 2020 free company. Vezina Trophy winner? Good for you, Marc-Andre Fleury, however we’re maxed out on the wage cap and we need to commerce for Eichel, so that you’re off to Chicago for nothing. No-trade clause? Don’t care, Evgenii Dadonov, we wish you to waive it. First-line left winger? That’s good, Max Pacioretty, however we’re up in opposition to the cap once more, so that you’re outta right here.
So for gamers like Stone, a part of this singular group tradition, it’s virtually like there isn’t time for pleasantries and subtlety. The Golden Knights have despatched the message that they need their gamers to win or else. It’s virtually as in the event that they cursed themselves with that run to the Stanley Cup ultimate in 2017-18, their inaugural season, as a result of it created an insatiable starvation for achievement at any price, together with the mortgaging of key depth gamers and prospects drafted within the first spherical.
But for Stone and Eichel, who got here from shedding conditions by way of commerce? They embrace that tradition.
“We expect change every year,” Stone mentioned in September. “Salary cap hasn’t moved in two years and we’ve spent to the cap, so you can’t complain about that. I’ve been on teams that don’t spend to the cap and you wish you did. So I’m never going to complain about a team that spends to the cap and comes to win.”
“It’s great – that’s what you want as a player,” Eichel mentioned. “You want a team that wants to win every year and has the highest of expectations, and that’s obviously how it is here, so I feel very fortunate to be a part of it.”
Like Stone, Eichel is likely one of the solely gamers we will financial institution on to “be a part of it” in Vegas for the long run. He’s signed for 4 extra seasons, together with this one, at a $10 million AAV. And he nonetheless yearns for actual, high-stakes NHL competitors. At 409 profession video games and not using a single playoff look, he’s a secure distance from Ron Hainsey’s NHL report drought of 907, however Eichel, 25, now has seven seasons within the books and not using a ticket to the massive dance.
Last season was supposed to interrupt the streak for him. He was traded to an elite Stanley Cup contender within the Golden Knights, in spite of everything. His disk substitute surgical procedure was profitable sufficient to get him again into NHL obligation by Feb. 16. It was the primary such process in NHL historical past, one the Buffalo Sabres weren’t keen to allow however that the Golden Knights had been glad to, and he set a precedent for different gamers.
“Johnson had it, Joel Farabee had it, so I think I did, yeah, because a year ago nobody had it, now all of a sudden three guys have had it,” Eichel mentioned. “It’s a more common injury than you think, and it’s a good way to resolve that injury, so I’m glad guys have had an opportunity to do it.”
There was only one drawback when Eichel debuted in Vegas: he rejoined a graveyard of a roster. Stone was out and in of the lineup with continual again issues. Pacioretty couldn’t keep wholesome. Starting goaltender Robin Lehner handled a number of main accidents. The Golden Knights had been just about by no means at full power, and the perpetually depleted lineup put Eichel again in a state of affairs resembling the one he wished to flee in Buffalo.
“He came into the lineup and then four or five of us left the lineup,” Stone mentioned. “So in Buffalo, all the pressure was on him, and when he came here it wasn’t supposed to be all on him, and then it was all on him (laughs). I think it was tough for him, but we’re excited to have the whole group back together.”
Ahem, not fairly the entire group. Pacioretty and Dadonov had been traded within the offseason, whereas Lehner had hip surgical procedure that can shelf him for all of 2022-23. But you get Stone’s level. The Golden Knights consider final season, their first and not using a playoff berth of their five-year historical past, didn’t replicate who they really are. They have most of their core able to go, together with Stone, who insists he’s again to regular after offseason again surgical procedure. They have a brand new head coach in Bruce Cassidy, plucked simply days after the Boston Bruins fired him, and Eichel commends Cassidy’s intelligence and talent to learn video games and make changes.
From the place the remainder of us sit? This group obtained worse on paper and nonetheless is perhaps headed for comeuppance after making one too many monkey’s paw transactions over the previous half decade, hurting their future for his or her brief time period pursuit of energy.
But for Eichel and Stone? What they see is a group that can do something to win. And that’s exactly what they need.
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