Is Mark Stone The Next To Get Traded Out Of Ottawa?
This was basically inevitable. If you are going to break the whole thing down, you might as well go all in on it. Reports are starting to surface that Mark Stone wants out of Ottawa, the latest coming from Elliotte Friedman on his 31 thoughts podcast, stating the Colorado and Vegas have kicked the tires on Stone.
“Colorado,” began co-host Jeff Marek. “They have two picks in the first round, one of them courtesy of the Ottawa Senators. They have the top line which is amongst the best in the NHL, Elliotte, and after that – _____.”
“I don’t think you ever sit there and say, ‘We want to take a step back,’” said Elliotte Friedman. “But I think they’re one team that is prepared for the possibility of it because I think they really want to find out what they’ve got.
“I think they’re looking at Kerfoot and they’re looking at Jost and they’re saying, ‘What do we really have in these two guys.’
“I heard they were kind of kicking around Mark Stone a little bit, them and Vegas. And I don’t know if that’s true, but the one thing I did hear was they really look at it like, ‘We have to find out, in addition to Nathan MacKinnon and the guys we’ve got – we know we’ve got MacKinnon. We know we’ve got Rantanen. We know we’ve got a bunch of guys here. We’ve got to find out what we’ve got in these two guys.’ And I think that’s what they’re going to do.” (h/t nicholsonhockey)
Stone can go in front of the media all he wants and say that he wants to stay in Ottawa, what else is he supposed to say? When they ask if he wants to be here, do you expect him to say no? He’s the one guy the fans like/know on the team, if they turned on him all hell would break loose (if it hasn’t already).
Stone is a legitimate player who be a huge addition to anyone who adds him. At 26-years-old, the Winnipeg native hasn’t had a season since 2013-2014 where he hasn’t scored under 20 goals.
Stone signed a one-year deal at the beginning of August to stay with the club for the 2018-19 season, and he cashed in. $7.35m for one year. That is big boy money. And before that, he was coming off a ticket that paid him $10.5m over 3 years. So while Stone will definitely be able to cash in after the season, he may be able to take a little less to win.
Both teams mentioned would be very interesting to get Stone, too. You had Stone to Vegas, along with the newly acquired Max Pacioretty, and that might be one of the best teams in the NHL right there.
Colorado on the other hand would be fascinating as well. Imagine Stone playing alongside Nathan MacKinnon? That would be scary. And they are both so young, so it would be scary for a long, long time.
Regardless, I’d like to see Stone get dealt. Ottawa is a sinking ship and there is no sense in him sinking with it. But like I said, at the end of the day, he signed a big ticket to stay there for the season, so if he does get stuck in Ottawa for the year, who cares, he’s absolutely cashing in.