It’s Trade Deadline day, February 25th, 2019, and the Ottawa Senators are continuing to offload pending unrestricted free agents. Mark Stone tops the list of players available on the trade market and the Vegas Golden Knights won the Mark Stone Sweepstakes.
What Vegas has in Stone
Let’s start by talking about Stone’s impact on Vegas thus far. From the trade to the end of the 2018-19 season, Stone played in 18 games with the Golden Knights and would contribute 5 goals and 6 assists for 11 points, which was a full 82-game pace of 23 goals and 28 assists for 51 points. In reality, he scored 33 goals and 40 assists for 73 points. He slowed down a bit at first with Vegas, but that can be attributed to learning a new system and getting used to a new team.
The next season, Stone would suit up in 65 games with Vegas for the 2019-20 season, and would score 21 goals and 42 assists for 63 points. Stone would be named captain at the beginning of the 2020-21 season, and would play in 55 games in the COVID-shortened season, missing one game. He would put up 21 goals and 40 assists for 60 points. He would miss most of the 2021-22 season due to back injury and would suit up in 37 games, sporting 9 goals and 21 assists for 30 points. This season, he has missed about half of it due to another back injury. He played in 43 games, scoring 17 goals and 21 assists for 38 points.
Unfortunately, Stone has suffered quite a lot of injuries, so he has not been in the lineup every night. However, when he is in the lineup, he is one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL and it is a crime that he has not won a Selke Trophy quite yet. It’s unfortunate that the Selke Trophy has essentially become a Center’s award.
Tobias Lindberg was essentially just a throw-in and is an AHL-caliber player.
What Ottawa got in return
The first player to break down will be Oscar Lindberg. Lindberg played in 20 games with the Senators after this trade before leaving via free agency and has been bouncing around in Europe ever since. In these 20 games, he would score 5 goals and 3 assists for 8 points, mostly playing in a bottom-6 role.
The 2020 Second-Round Pick was originally property of the Dallas Stars and was sent with goaltender Dylan Ferguson to the Golden Knights in exchange for defenseman Marc Methot (I still find this very ironic as Vegas got Methot from Ottawa in the expansion draft, and Ferguson would later suit up with the Senators this season. This second-round pick would be used to draft Russian forward Egor Sokolov. Sokolov has not yet made the NHL on a full-time basis but saw an opportunity at the end of the season as he was called up and would score his first NHL goal. In the AHL this season, he scored 21 goals and 38 assists for 61 points
Erik Brannstrom was the biggest part of this package, as when this trade went down, Brannstrom was regarded as the best defenseman outside the NHL at the time, and the best defensive prospect in all of hockey. Brannstrom is regarded as an offense-first defenseman and was expected to be the top-pairing defenseman for a long time. Unfortunately, he has slid down the depth chart a bit with the arrival of Jake Sanderson. I’m not saying Brannstrom is bad because he’s not. Jake Sanderson is just better. He’s taken on a lower role, but he’s thrived throughout the season leading the team in many defensive metrics, which is fascinating because he was regarded as the next great puck-moving defenseman in the NHL. In 73 games, he scored 2 goals and 16 assists for 18 points. Brannstrom has been the subject of trade rumors lately, to much dismay of fans as he has become somewhat of a fan-favorite in Ottawa. My opinion is that if he can thrive in a higher role on a different team, I’d be happy for him, but at the same time I’d rather not trade a good defenseman just because he would be in a higher role on another team.
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Closing Thoughts
Mark Stone was regarded as the next captain after Erik Karlsson was traded. Unfortunately, it did not work out that way and he would see his way out as well. Stone has been amazing for Vegas when in the lineup. As much as I love Erik Brannstom and Egor Sokolov, I think it’s fair to say that the Golden Knights won the trade. Unfortunately, you can’t win every trade in the NHL. While the return could have been better, I’m happy with what Brannstrom’s provided in Ottawa thus far.