Evening Notes: Stone, Eller, Milano

Vegas Golden Knights forward Mark Stone will remain out of the lineup tonight when Vegas takes on the Anaheim Ducks tonight (Twitter link). Alexander Holtz will take Stone’s spot on the top line as Stone is dealing with a lower-body injury and will miss his third straight game. The Golden Knights play again on Friday against Utah and will presumably update Stone’s status before then. The 32-year-old has been exceptional this season when healthy, posting six goals and 15 assists in 13 games.

Stone has long had issues with his health, having played 80 or more games only once in his 13-year NHL career. His health has been a major concern over the past three seasons as Stone has missed 110 games dating back to the 2021-22 season.

In other evening notes:

• Newly acquired Washington Capitals forward Lars Eller didn’t participate in the team’s optional morning skate today and did not dress for their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening (as per Sammi Silber of The Hockey News). Eller was acquired yesterday by the Capitals in exchange for two draft picks and likely won’t suit up for his new team until Friday night when they take on one of Eller’s former teams, the Colorado Avalanche.
• Injured Capitals forward Sonny Milano is still not skating and remains sidelined with an upper-body injury (as per Sammi Silber). Milano remains on the injured reserve and has no definite timeline to return to the lineup (as per Silber). Milano has played just 21:38 this season in three games and has been a scratch even when healthy. His spot in the NHL lineup was precarious at best, and now with the Eller trade, it’s possible that the 28-year-old could be the odd man out.