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Mark Stone Removed From Injured Reserve

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The Vegas Golden Knights are set to get their captain back, as Mark Stone has been removed from injured reserve on the NHL media site. Earlier today, head coach Pete DeBoer told reporters including Jesse Granger of The Athletic that Stone would be a game-time decision tonight.

If the Golden Knights do get Stone back tonight against the Vancouver Canucks, it will be his first appearance in a month. The 29-year-old forward left a game against the Los Angeles Kings on October 14 and has been absent ever since. After registering three assists in the season opener, Stone looked like he was ready to repeat an impressive performance from 2020-21, when he scored 21 goals and 61 points in just 55 games. That was the first point-per-game season of his career (though he’s been very close previously), and earned him a top-10 finish in the Hart Trophy voting.

It’s not only his point production that has been missing from the Golden Knights lineup though. Stone’s defensive impact is tremendous, which may help explain why Vegas has allowed 42 goals through 14 games. Those numbers have turned around recently with the team righting the ship, but getting their captain back would only help push them in the right direction.

Remember, while Stone is coming back off long-term injured reserve, the Golden Knights are still deep into their LTIR relief now that Jack Eichel is with the club. When everyone is healthy the team will have a difficult time fitting everything in, but activating Stone won’t cause a cap issue right away.

More Moves Are Necessary For The Vegas Golden Knights

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Today was certainly a day to be happy for Vegas Golden Knights fans. The team acquired a top-ten center in the league in Jack Eichel while only losing one piece each from their prospect and draft pool.

However, the reality stands that Eichel isn’t free. He’s currently in the fourth year of an eight-year, $80MM deal that counts against the salary cap for $10M per year.

The Knights are doing a delicate dance with the salary cap’s Upper Limit, shifting both Eichel and Mark Stone to long-term injured reserve today to accommodate the transaction. They join Max Pacioretty on the list, meaning the entirety of what’s expected to be Vegas’ top line is on LTIR.

Now, this number is expected to decrease slightly as they send some players down as the team gets healthier, but CapFriendly lists the Golden Knights with a $91.8MM cap hit, just over $10M above the $81.5MM Upper Limit.

While the team should be able to activate Pacioretty and Stone without issue, it’ll be impossible as things currently stand to activate Eichel when he’s expected to return in February or March. The team will need to have a cap hit below the $81.5MM Upper Limit at that point in order to do so.

Needless to say, moves will need to happen for Vegas to shed enough salary to become cap-compliant. It’s no small amount of money, either, as they’ll likely need to offload $7-8MM in order to make things work.

Reilly Smith and the one year remaining on a deal paying him $5MM per season scream out as a likely candidate to be traded by the Knights. If Eichel is healthy prior to the trade deadline, it’s entirely feasible that Vegas could flip him to quite literally anyone. They could operate as a seller and trade Smith to a contender in the Eastern Conference, or trade him to a seller that could then flip him at the deadline.

If clearing that isn’t enough, the team could look at trading or waiving Brayden McNabb and his $2.5MM cap hit. He too is in the last year of his contract, and his role with the team is quickly being made expendable with the emergence of Nicolas Hague.

Regardless, it’s a surefire conclusion that the makeup of the team will need to be cheaper when Eichel is healthy and ready to play.

Injury Notes: Penguins, Golden Knights, Avalanche, Wood

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The Pittsburgh Penguins received some extremely welcome news today, as head coach Mike Sullivan says centers Sidney Crosby and Jeff Carter are game-time decisions for tomorrow’s contest against the New Jersey Devils as they begin the journey to full health. That’s only 40% of the key contributors they have currently out of the lineup, however, as Kris Letang remains in COVID-19 protocol and Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust are on injured reserve. Still, seeing one of the best players in the world close to full health again and nearly ready to make his season debut is always promising news. The return of Carter shouldn’t be overlooked either, as the veteran forward had four points in four games before entering COVID-19 protocol.

More injury notes from around the league:

  • The Golden Knights, along with the Penguins, have been one of the most injury-affected teams in the NHL this season. The Athletic’s Jesse Granger issued updates on the health of many Golden Knights today, as the team has six regulars currently sitting out with injury. The most notable of those updates is Mark Stone, who is still out indefinitely but skated today for the first time since suffering a lower-body injury on October 15. However, it could potentially become seven regulars out of the lineup for tonight’s game as William Carrier suffered an injury Wednesday night against Dallas and is a game-time decision.
  • Colorado Avalanche winger Mikko Rantanen is day-to-day with a lower-body injury per head coach Jared Bednar, but defenseman Devon Toews is expected to make his season debut during the next two games. Rantanen was scratched from Thursday night’s game against the Blues. Toews’ return will give Colorado a fully healthy defense core for the first time this season, as Samuel Girard is also ready to go.
  • Devils head coach Lindy Ruff gave an update today on forward Miles Wood, who he calls “the furthest away” from returning out of all the Devils’ injuries. Considering Jack Hughes was issued a five-week timeline today, that’s not promising news. Wood has not played this season after suffering a lower-body injury just prior to the start of the campaign.

Pacific Notes: Possible Eichel Trade Partner, Stone, Appleton

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Talks between the Golden Knights and Sabres regarding center Jack Eichel have picked up in recent days, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.   Vegas is off to a tough start to their season with a 2-4 record and bringing someone like Eichel in won’t exactly help in the short term with him still needing neck surgery which will take him out for several months, whichever version of the procedure he winds up getting.  Seravalli adds that there has been some talk about getting a third team involved to make the financial element work with the Golden Knights tight to the Upper Limit of the salary cap as usual.  Buffalo has insisted they won’t retain on the remaining five years and $50MM of Eichel’s deal although they are open to taking other contracts back to make the money work.  Enticing another team to retain on Eichel’s deal would be costly – it has to be done for the remainder of the deal and not just certain years – but it would certainly make it easier to fit Eichel into their salary structure.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • Also from Seravalli’s column, the Golden Knights are still waiting for some clarity on Mark Stone’s injury. There is some concern that it could be a long-term issue which could free up the short-term LTIR room needed to absorb Eichel’s contract although that’s only good until both players would be ready to return.  Stone is currently listed as somewhere between day-to-day and week-to-week which is a creative way of saying he’s out indefinitely.
  • Kraken winger Mason Appleton will “miss some time”, head coach Dave Hakstol told reporters including Marisa Ingemi of the Seattle Times (Twitter link). The 25-year-old left Tuesday’s victory over Montreal after two periods with an undisclosed injury.  Appleton has an assist in seven games so far this season while his average ice time has dipped by more than three minutes a night compared to his usage with Winnipeg in 2020-21.

Snapshots: Draft Rankings, Golden Knights, Girard

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NHL Central Scouting released their list of “players to watch” for the upcoming 2022 NHL Draft, and potential first-overall pick Shane Wright is one of 23 players ranked as an “A” prospect. The others, which include names like Brad Lambert, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Conor Geekie, and Matthew Savoie, are obviously all names to keep in mind as this year progresses.

Notably, there are only five defensemen and no goaltenders ranked as “A” prospects, with forwards dominating the top of the list this year. The group is also tilted slightly toward North American skaters, with 13 of the 23 coming from this side of the pond.

  • The Vegas Golden Knights may have dodged a bullet when it comes to Mark Stone, who won’t need surgery according to Jesse Granger of The Athletic. The Golden Knights captain is somewhere “between day to day and week to week” says head coach Pete DeBoer. Mattias Janmark, meanwhile, is still in the COVID protocol and will not be available tomorrow night. DeBoer expects him to be cleared soon.
  • The first three players on each Olympic roster have already been announced, but a few days ago each participating nation also had to submit a “long list” of potential NHL candidates. Though it hasn’t been released to the public yet, at least one name won’t be included. Samuel Girard told reporters including Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press that received a call from Canada GM Doug Armstrong, who explained that he did not make the long list. It certainly would have been difficult for Girard to make the team anyway, but his exclusion even from the possible targets shows just how deep the Canadian blue line is.

Max Pacioretty To Miss Roughly Six Weeks

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Thursday’s game against the Kings was a costly one for the Golden Knights.  For starters, a 6-2 loss is never ideal but on top of that, their injury list is continuing to grow.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that winger Max Pacioretty is set to miss approximately six weeks with an injury; Jesse Granger of The Athletic clarifies (Twitter link) that it’s a lower-body issue.

This is the latest in what has been a long list of injuries to start the season as the veteran joins forwards Nicolas Roy, Brett Howden, Mattias Janmark (COVID protocol), Alex Tuch, and William Carrier as those out of the lineup.  Mark Stone was also injured against the Kings with Friedman noting that Vegas is still awaiting further clarity on his situation.

Pacioretty had been off to a strong start to his season with three points in their opener against Seattle and has been one of their most consistent scoring threats since coming over in a trade from Montreal back in 2018, notching at least 22 goals in each of his three seasons with the Golden Knights while eclipsing the point per game mark for the first time last season when he had 24 goals and 27 assists in 48 games.  If Stone winds up missing time as well, their top two scorers from the past two seasons will both be out of commission.  Vegas is basically down to just seven healthy forwards on their active roster having sent three players down yesterday and those players (plus others) will almost certainly be recalled before their next game on Wednesday.

Injuries left Vegas in a tough spot last season to the point where they had to dress fewer than 18 skaters at times but that shouldn’t be an issue here.  Tuch is currently on LTIR, allowing the Golden Knights to use his $4.75MM towards replacement players and with Pacioretty set to miss the next six weeks, he’ll be eligible to be moved there as well and with a $7MM AAV, there will be more than enough cap room to recall several players to fill their lineup.

Of course, finding healthy players from their AHL affiliate in Henderson is something that’s easier said than done.  After making their season debut last night, NHL.com’s Patrick Williams relays (Twitter link) that the Silver Knights are missing a total of 14 players due to injury while the team announced yesterday that head coach Manny Viveiros is taking a non-COVID medical leave of absence and is out indefinitely.  It has been a tough start to the season all around in the Vegas organization.

2020-21 Selke Trophy Finalists Announced

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The NHL has announced the finalists for yet another of its end of the year awards, the Frank J. Selke Trophy. Always a hotly-contested and highly-debated award, the Selke Trophy is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association on the basis of “the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.” The 2020-21 finalists are Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov, Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, and Vegas Golden Knights winger Mark Stone.

Bergeron should of course come as no surprise. The Bruins captain is a finalist for a record tenth consecutive year and one of only two four-time winners in league history, alongside Bob Gainey who won the award in each of the first four seasons that it existed. Considered by some to be the best defensive forward to ever play the game, Bergeron is always a safe bet to be a Selke contender, especially when he again led the league at the face-off dot this season, recording a 62.5% winning percentage. Bergeron also led the NHL in total face-offs won, while leading the Bruins forwards in blocked shots, short-handed time on ice, and career-best possession stats.

With that said, some wondered if Bergeron was even the best defensive forward on his own team this year with the success that Brad Marchand had forcing turnovers, checking, and recording a league-leading seven short-handed points, not to mention leading all non-Oilers in league scoring. If Bergeron faced competition even on his own team, perhaps the door is open for one of the other finalists to prevent him from taking home a record fifth Selke win.

Barkov led a resurgent Panthers team to the postseason this year, topping all Florida forwards in ice time, takeaways, and possession, as well as points per game, and was second in blocked shots. Barkov finished in the top-15 league-wide in face-offs taken, won, and percentage. A first-time Selke finalist, Barkov has nevertheless established himself as one of the best defensive forwards in the league right now and his candidacy is long overdue.

As for Stone, he is looking to become the first winger to win the Selke since Jere Lehtinen did so three times, the last coming in 2002-03. A takeaway machine, no player in the NHL has forced more turnovers during Stone’s career, as he led the league for the fifth time again this year. Stone led all Knights forwards in time on ice and finished third in short-handed time on ice per game and blocked shots per game. Stone also led all forwards in points and plus/minus. However, Stone faces an uphill battle to win without any face-off contributions and he may also be dinged for not being more engaged in the checking game, trailing Bergeron and Barkov in hits per game despite his considerable size advantage.

Other than Marchand, other potential snubs include recent winners Sean Couturier and Ryan O’Reilly, while some felt that Sidney Crosby deserved recognition for what was arguably the best two-way season of his storied career. However, few will argue that the PHWA didn’t settle on the right choices for the top three this year.

 

 

Snapshots: Three Stars, Vegas, Simmonds, Pettersson

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The NHL has released the Three Stars for last week, with Mark Stone leading the way after a few incredible performances. The Vegas Golden Knights captain scored ten points in four games including a five-assist outing against the Minnesota Wild. The two-way forward is off to the best start of his career with 27 points in his first 21 games and has the Golden Knights in first place with a 16-4-1 record.

Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks and Martin Necas of the Carolina Hurricanes take home the second and third stars after outstanding weeks of their own. Demko has really started to lay claim to the Vancouver crease with four strong performances in a row, including a .969 save percentage in his three appearances last week. The Canucks won all three games, not something the team has been able to say often this year. Necas meanwhile has broken out this season for the Hurricanes, recording 18 points in 21 games and looking like a potential top-line player for the team in the coming years. The 22-year-old has been strong at both ends of the rink and is working on a four-game point streak (2 G, 5 A).

  • Though Stone won the top honors, he may not play tonight for the Golden Knights. Justin Emerson of the Las Vegas Sun reports that Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, and Brayden McNabb are all game-time decisions for the matchup against the Wild tonight. The Golden Knights have four games between now and Saturday as they squeeze in matchups, including an important back-to-back against the St. Louis Blues.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs presented a nice surprise this morning when Wayne Simmonds took the ice for the first time before practice. The 32-year-old broke his wrist on February 6 and was given a six-week recovery timeline. Toronto’s bottom-six has been playing well of late but there is no doubt they’d love to have Simmonds back in the fold, given how well he had been playing in the early going. The veteran forward had five goals in his first 12 games.
  • The Vancouver Canucks will be without Elias Pettersson again tonight as they look for their third consecutive win. After beating the Maple Leafs twice, Vancouver will try to slow down the Montreal Canadiens without their top forward. Pettersson was just starting to find his rhythm when he suffered this latest injury and has 21 points in 26 games this season.

Mark Stone Named Captain Of Vegas Golden Knights

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The Vegas Golden Knights finally have a captain. After operating without one for their first few years of existence, the team has decided to name Mark Stone captain today, perhaps unsurprisingly to those who have watched his impact since he arrived in Sin City. Alex Pietrangelo and Reilly Smith will serve as alternates this season.

Stone, who was already a leader in the dressing room for the Golden Knights, released a short statement explaining how it went down:

Pete (DeBoer) called me in to his office. Didn’t really think much of it, just thought maybe he was going to ask about the camp. Asked me if I was up for the opportunity to be the captain of this team. This is an organization I’ve always wanted to be a part of so to be able to be the first captain of this franchise it’s very honoring, very humbling and I’m excited to see where this team goes.

The 28-year-old Stone isn’t flashy, even though he has scored at least 60 points in five of his six full NHL season, but he is effective. Arguably the best defensive winger in the entire NHL, the 2010 sixth-round pick has developed into one of the most well-rounded talents in the entire league. On a nightly basis you can watch him strip defenders of the puck and set up opportunities for his teammates. He was the runner-up for the Selke Trophy in 2019 and finished fifth in voting last season, impressive feats for a winger since the award is almost always given to a center.

Perhaps most importantly, Stone is heading into just the second season of an eight-year deal with the Golden Knights that will keep him in Vegas through the 2026-27 season. He has a full no-movement clause and carries a $9.5MM cap hit throughout, meaning he isn’t going anywhere. That “C” will be on the ice for years, perhaps until the end of his career.

He’ll get his first chance to perform as captain tomorrow night when the Golden Knights welcome in the Anaheim Ducks.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Sean Couturier Named 2020 Selke Trophy Winner

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Another day, another NHL award announced. This evening it was the honor of best defensive forward, which went to Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier. The league named Couturier the recipient of the Frank J. Selke Trophy for the 2019-20 season, his first time winning the award. The Selke Trophy is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association and is awarded to the forward deemed to “best excel in the defensive aspects of the game.”

Couturier faced stiff competition for the honor this season, as 2018-19 winner Ryan O’Reilly of the St. Louis Blues and four-time winner and nine-time finalist Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins were also named finalists. Yet, the race was not particularly close. Couturier finished with 117 of a possible 170 first-place votes, 96 more than Bergeron in second. His 1424 total voting points were also 540 more than Bergeron. O’Reilly finished close behind in third, with Tampa Bay’s Anthony Cirelli in fourth and Vegas’ Mark Stone and Montreal’s Phillip Danault finishing in a distant fifth and sixth respectively.

Couturier has grown into one of if not the best face-off man in the NHL, a main reason he ran away with the Selke this season. He won 59.7% of his draws, more than any other player in the league (with a minimum 50 face-offs). He also ranked second in defensive zone face-off percentage. On the club level, he led all Flyers forwards in average time on ice and short-handed ice time per game and led all Philadelphia skaters in plus/minus and Corsi. Additionally, Couturier finished second in scoring for Philly, just two points behind Travis Konecny for the team lead.  

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