Bad News For Vegas Captain Has The Team Looking At Trade Options
The Vegas Golden Knights chance to repeat as Stanley Cup champions appears to have taken a hit as the injury prognosis of captain Mark Stone isn't a positive one. TSN's Darren Dreger revealed on a recent segment of Insider Trading that Stone is expected to miss the rest of the regular season with an upper-body injury and is questionable to return for the playoffs.
The 31 year old, was injured during the Knight's 5-3 loss to the Nashville Predators on February 20th. Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli reported that the Stone is dealing with a lacerated spleen.
Vegas have gone through similar tribulations with Stone before, as the veteran forward and his $9.5M cap hit was placed on long term injured reserve last season causing him to miss the latter half. The Vegas captain was able to return for Game 1 of the first round, producing at over a point per game pace with 11 goals and 24 points in 22 games on the franchise's run to their first Stanley Cup.
The Golden Knights were able to add forwards Ivan Barbashev and Teddy Blueger, as well as goaltender Jonathan Quick, at last year's trade deadline. Barbashev was the best of the acquisitions and the only one that remains on the roster.
Dreger reported that Vegas is in the market for a top-six forward with St. Louis Blues' Pavel Buchnevich, New Jersey Devils' Tyler Toffoli, and Jordan Eberle of the Seattle Kraken mentioned as possibilities.
The Manitoba native scored 16 goals and 53 points in 56 games before his injury. With Stone on LTIR, Vegas has $6.8M in cap space currently.
| POLL | ||
Which player would you like Vegas to acquire most? | ||
| Tyler Toffoli | 34 | 23.3 % |
| Pavel Buchnevich | 28 | 19.2 % |
| Jordan Eberle | 26 | 17.8 % |
| Jake Guentzel | 58 | 39.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
