A year after being unable to work out a deal for Erik Karlsson, the Vegas Golden Knights got their man in a trade with the Ottawa Senators.
Mark Stone is heading to Vegas after the Senators dealt the 26-year-old forward, and prospect Tobias Lindberg, to Sin City in exchange for highly-regarded prospect Erik Brannstrom, forward Oscar Lindberg and a 2020 second-round pick. He’s reunited with Vegas assistant general manager Kelly McCrimmon, who coached Stone with the Brandon Wheat Kings for three seasons.
Senators general manager Pierre Dorion attempted to extend Stone, along with Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, but nothing came out of their talks. Duchene was dealt on Friday to Columbus, and a day later Dzingel joined him in a separate deal. The team then decided to sit Stone for their last three games, signaling he would be gone by Monday’s deadline.
According to the Ottawa Citizen, Dorion made an eight-year offer on Thursday and set a deadline of puck drop of their game against New Jersey that night to accept or be a healthy scratch.
[Winners and losers of the 2019 NHL Trade Deadline]
According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, the two sides have agreed to an extension, which cannot be signed officially until March 1, for eight-years that carry’s a $9.5M cap hit per season and features a full no-move claus. Vegas did a similar move right after they acquired Max Pacioretty in September.
Stone, a sixth-round pick by Ottawa in 2010, scored 123 goals and recorded 311 points in 366 games with the Senators. Whenever the extension is announced with the Golden Knights, it’ll be a rich one following a strong season that will see him break the 30-goal and 70-point marks.
On Monday morning, Calgary Flames vice president of hockey operations Don Maloney said the team was in on a big name Sunday, but the price was too high. They had been rumored to be interested in Stone. Same for the Winnipeg Jets, who decided to go in a different direction by getting Kevin Hayes from the New York Rangers.
This is a great get for Vegas GM George McPhee and when you look at the price you have to wonder how/why other teams circling around Stone didn’t want to pay up. As the Western Conference’s top dogs continue to prepare for a playoff battle to reach the Stanley Cup Final, the Golden Knights just bulked up in a big way.
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.