The Vegas Golden Knights were able to acquire Mark Stone at the NHL’s trade deadline, and he’ll reportedly be theirs for some time — although the deal can’t formally be signed until March 1, Stone and the Knights already have an agreement for an 8-year contract worth $9.5 million annually.
Stone, the top player on TSN’s Trade Bait board, was a highly desirable commodity around the league, and Golden Knights GM George McPhee sounded ecstatic about the chance to get a player of his calibre on the trade market.
Do we detect a bit of a dig at Pierre Dorion and the Senators, after failing to come to terms with Stone on an extension? Maybe, maybe not, but after the Sens chose to position themselves as sellers at the deadline, the Golden Knights and the Columbus Blue Jackets came away richly as the benefactors, with Stone going to the former team and the latter adding Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel.
Already, Vegas fans have rolled out the red carpet for the newest Golden Knight.
In the interest of being fair, we’ll also note that the Sens have recouped plenty of assets for the future through their fire sale, including draft picks as well as Swedish prospect Erik Brannstrom.
Just like McPhee, Dorion was really gassing up his team’s new acquisition, insisting that his franchise had “never traded for a player of this calibre.” If he’s right, then their rebuild seems to be off to a strong start already.
