Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion gave it his all, but in the end, came short of retaining Mark Stone.
On Monday afternoon at 2:43 PM Eastern Time, just 17 minutes ahead of the trade deadline, Dorion sent Stone in a packaged deal to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for prospects Erik Brannstrom, Oscar Lindberg and a 2020 second round pick. Sens fans remained hopeful that Stone would stay in Ottawa but now the 26-year-old will have a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup over in the Sin City.
Despite missing out, Dorion remains optimistic and insisted that the franchise has “never traded" for a player of this caliber” when referring to Brannstrom.
A 15th overall pick by Vegas in 2017 (and the third in franchise history), Brannstrom has been lightning it up in the AHL this year with 28 points in 41 games. Oh, and by the way… he’s 19! The prospect of him anchoring Ottawa’s blue line for years to come is pretty scary.
Meanwhile, Mark Stone is already settling in nicely in Las Vegas. He had a grand entrance at the airport this morning that’s already making headline.
And he even made a little welcome speech of his own. That was a gnarly voice crack Mark!!!!
Deadline days sure can be tough, but it’s nice to see both sides are happy with their return. Unlike that BarDown team…
