Michael Stone signed a one-year, $4 million extension with the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday, but who knows how much he would have received if he’d been completely healthy.
The 26-year-old scored a career-high 36 points in 75 games in 2015-16. Unfortunately for him, he underwent ACL and MCL surgery after being injured in a game against the Flyers back in March (top).
Even though Stone’s rehab is going well, he still doesn’t know exactly when he’ll be able to return to the ice.
“It’s still not real strong just yet,” Stone said, per AZ Central. But I feel really good, and the fact that I’m doing the things that I’m doing right now is a positive sign for me.”
“I’m pushing to be ready to go for the start of the season. Whether that happens or not, I guess in some way it’s in my control. But you have to see how everything responds. It’s something where your legs are what you’re using 100 percent of the time on the ice. You gotta be ready to go, so we’ll see what happens with that.”
Arizona’s first regular season game will be on Oct. 15. That’s six-and-a-half months after Stone had his surgery done, per AZ Central.
The timing of the injury was unfortunate, but Stone can still cash in next summer if he’s able to return to form this season. One thing that will help Stone’s case is that he’ll be an unrestricted free agent on July 1st, 2017 (he was an RFA this time around).
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