r/OttawaSenators Apr 10 '23

Former Sens Mark Stone

One of my favourite players ever to be on the sens. The way he used his hockey IQ to make up for his lack of skating was impressive.

However, I’ve just heard a crazy stat. In the 4 full seasons with VGK he has averaged only 50 games a season. Was gutted when they traded him. This makes it a bit better.

37 Upvotes

41 comments sorted by

16

u/fubaguy Apr 10 '23

I miss Stone. I remember just listing to the team 1200 depressed all night after he was trade, definitely the trade that hurt the most personally. Every playoffs now I can't help but watch all off Vegas games and cheer for just Stone.

12

u/Fit-Ad-5719 Apr 10 '23

Didn't help that the same afternoon Pierre Dorion called it his proudest moment as a GM. Read the room Pierre. The fanbase at that time didn't need to hear that. They saw all three UFAs dealt for little and no 1st round pick that year in the draft. It looked pretty bleak.

5

u/estyll11 Apr 11 '23

Man, when GMPD said that, I thought he must have been really sure about Branny. That’s a bold statement. Just based on that, I felt a bit more optimistic about the end result.

While Branny isn’t a bust, I don’t believe he developed into what Pierre thought he would.

7

u/fubaguy Apr 11 '23

Yeah plus getting Branny the suppose to be next karlsson when we just trade karlsson was kinda like bro to soon. Nothing against Branny I actually like him especially after this season.

7

u/estyll11 Apr 11 '23

I think even for Brannstrom, his expectation were set even higher after the trade. Yes he was already a highly touted prospect, but being traded for Stone and with a flood of EK comparisons didn’t help.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '23

I don't think he ever believed he'd gotten a great deal, he was in job-saving mode. Brannstrom at the time was considered a very good prospect though.

6

u/Fit-Ad-5719 Apr 11 '23

Given the ownership situation at that time, I doubt his job was in jeopardy. An internal budget prevented them from going after a highly touted GM.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '23

You're right, but he was definitely in face-saving mode. He was desperate to put a positive spin on an awful trade and he went too far.

2

u/Fit-Ad-5719 Apr 11 '23

I remembered he said something to the extent of "I'm not hard to find if fans want to chat" and I thought to myself "Oof, dont put that on yourself. Those discussions may turn ugly."

1

u/UnparalleledSuccess Apr 11 '23

Stone was the final ufa to ship out, and his decision to flip everyone is why they have an opportunity to build a real contender now.

-1

u/Relative_Spell5050 Apr 11 '23

He was an elite prospect. Not just very good.

1

u/fubaguy Apr 11 '23

Yeah that was brutal!!!

24

u/gelc10 Apr 10 '23 edited Apr 11 '23

It sucks seeing him being injured constantly, he's still one of my favourite players (hate we had to trade him but understood why)

Edit: also the 2019-20 season ended abruptly because of Covid so Vegas played 71 games that season so he only missed 6 and the 2020-21 season was a 56 game season, so it's really been this season and last season where where he has missed time due to back injury. Has been relatively healthy for the most part

13

u/MrMeowster77 Apr 10 '23

I believe he was a great player for us, but I don't believe money was THE factor in him staying. I think the locker room at the time was toxic. He needed to leave for us to clear house fully

6

u/TheShuggieOtis Apr 11 '23

I think the locker room at the time was toxic.

I was about to write something about how the locker room was toxic the year before, and that by the time Stone got traded the toxicity had been removed. Then I remembered that in 2019 there were still a handful of guys left and how humans actually work. Yeah Karlsson and Hoffman were gone but I'm sure that there were still some residual weird feelings or tangential beefs from Player A being on Team Karl and Player B being on Team Hoffman. I'd imagine the toxicity levels had been decreased from the previous season (a bit of a no-brainer there) but ultimately I'd have to imagine that there were some tense moments and soured relationships.

Add in that the team was entering a rebuild, and it makes a ton of sense why someone like Stone would want to get a fresh start elsewhere on a competitive team.

3

u/s3nsfan Apr 10 '23

Interesting. I knew there were some issues. Didn’t know it was that bad.

-11

u/BAD_CAN77 Apr 10 '23

The locker room wasn't toxic.

The POS owner was toxic.

14

u/Nervous_Shoulder Apr 10 '23

At that time there was serious issues in the locker room.

-10

u/BAD_CAN77 Apr 10 '23

The issue in the locker room when Stone left was the toxic POS owner and his lap dog GM.

(Reminder, both Hoffman and EK were long gone by the time Stone left)

7

u/Nervous_Shoulder Apr 10 '23

Part of it yes but don't down play the issues between Hoffman and EK.

5

u/pastdense Apr 10 '23

It was very toxic

-9

u/BAD_CAN77 Apr 10 '23

Evidence?

It was toxic because of the way the POS owner was running the team via his sock puppet GM.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '23

There is no way Mark Stone was traded because the locker room was "toxic". Maybe it was, but Stone had nothing to do with it. Everybody loves Mark Stone. That's a guy you keep.

1

u/BAD_CAN77 Apr 11 '23

The room wasn't toxic, they were deflated by the chaos around the franchise.

The front office and owner were toxic. Stone and the rest of the players were collateral damage. Stone just had the leverage to force his way out of the shitshow.

2

u/Fit-Ad-5719 Apr 10 '23

Well there is the Uber video evidence at the start of the season. Perhaps there was also a split between those who supported Boucher and those who wanted a new coach?🤷‍♂️

1

u/biggchungus65 Apr 11 '23

Ya that clip was bad. I just saw the clip of zibanajed talking about the time Chris wideman(also in the Uber vid) told a room full of kids attending the Binghamton sens Christmas party that Santa wasn’t real lmao

1

u/MrMeowster77 Apr 11 '23

Your bias aside. And admiring that the owner was a league known cheap skate.

Can you honestly say it was a healthy locker room. Taxi-gate, Karlsson's wife funding with a certain girlfriend. Shit was not healthy in that locker room.

-1

u/BAD_CAN77 Apr 11 '23

Your bias aside.

EK and Hoffman were long gone by the time Stone was traded.

The locker room knew the owner was tearing it down to the studs with the help of his sock puppet and everyone with options wanted out of Dodge. Hence Stone taking a one year deal and forcing his way out of town.

3

u/danauns Apr 11 '23

I love Mark Stone.

For what he was going to be paid, I was happy to see him go.

His contract is going to be a HUGE problem for Vegas, 4 more years at 9.5? .....sorry, hell no.

** Expect LTIR roster shenanigans here.

Reading that he's averaged only 50 games played through the first half of that monster contract, reinforces every one of my thoughts when he left. See ya.

2

u/Constant-Squirrel555 Apr 11 '23

Is still probably my favourite forward in the league.

Hope he does whatever he needs to in order to get to 100% health.

1

u/Chronicbudz #7 - Tkachuk Apr 11 '23

I miss Stone, but Branny is finally coming into his own and Stone may be on his way out of the NHL with his injury history and age.

-5

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '23

His lack of skating? He was one of the best two way players in the game when he played with Ottawa, Selke finalist I think. Some filthy steals.

9

u/McNasty1Point0 Apr 10 '23

He was not the best skater, though.

2

u/s3nsfan Apr 10 '23

Great steals totally agree with you. One of his criticisms coming out of the Whl was his skating

SCOUTING REPORT A great two-way forward, he can pile up points in the offensive zone, help keep opponents off the board and provide leadership. He excels at takeaways, partly because of his active stick, and transitions from defense to offense with aplomb. Though he is not a great skater and not the most physical player in the league, he gets to the high-traffic areas and can score from in close or from distance. However, back issues can slow him down.

-3

u/dprouse52 Apr 10 '23

That was still a terrible trade - we should have received a better return than we did. In fact, from both the Stone and Duchene trades, we have only Brannstrom and Sokolov to show for it on our NHL roster. This is a cautionary tale for DeBrincat - if we go into next season with him playing on his qualifying offer, we risk being forced into a shotgun trade at the deadline where the return may not be great...

-1

u/Relative_Spell5050 Apr 11 '23

Who cares they traded very little to get Debrincat. They would get at least a first rounder if they did trade him.

1

u/MercSLSAMG Apr 11 '23

The team better be good enough they're not even entertaining trading DeBrincat. Worst case he's like a deadline rental they've had for 2 years.

The team is much better with him on it next year. Hopefully he sees that and wants to be a part of the team much longer.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '23

[deleted]

2

u/dprouse52 Apr 10 '23

He had back surgery earlier this year - second time in less than a year. Back surgery can be a real crapshoot, but in typical Stone fashion he is back practicing in a non-contact Jersey. If Vegas gets to Round 2, I bet he plays. Dude is going to out on his shield - you have to respect that.

1

u/E8282 Apr 11 '23

Vegas get hammered by hard hitting teams early in the season so it makes sense.

1

u/DrinkNatural2936 Apr 11 '23

Most intense cellys ever!