There was some online chatter (probably starting with Kreider's reps) that he would he happy to play for the remaining salary on his contract ... so, around $4 mil. I think the trick would be limiting the term. He's 35 and has to be managed pretty closely as it is. You don't want to go messing with even a 2 year deal, because if he loses another step he's going to be all but useless. But you know some doofus GM with Cap to burn is going to hand him a stupid contract offer.
They got a first and 2 2nds next year. The rest are later rounds including a 10th rounder next year. The next pick in the top 2 rounds is in 2030, so they’re probably scouting the AAA PeeWee majors pretty heavily.Wait, what?!
The Brampton Steelheads acquire 17 picks in Tanner Adams trade with the Sudbury Wolves.
Steelheads acquire 17 picks in Tanner Adams trade with Wolves
The Brampton Steelheads have cashed in big.www.sportsnet.ca
Vegas shaved $500K off of Stone's current contract, which ... doesn't seem like enough, honestly.
If he could be expected to play all season it might be ok but who would expect that
Even healthy, Stone has been less reliable in recent years as a point producer than a lot of people seem to think. And while he still might be the best defensive forward of his generation not named Barkov or Bergeron, that's not going to last as he keeps getting less mobile. He had a bounce-back season in 25-26 offensively, but c'mon ... the guy is the oldest 34 year old in league history. The chances of him turning back the clock two seasons in a row are minimal and the chances of him still being that guy 3 seasons from now when that extension ends are real, real slim. I get that Stone is a foundational player for them, but there was no rush to extend him. Why not see how his health holds up this season and then set a value? Chances are pretty good that he'll have other miss significant time (again), and that absolutely would impact the cost of that deal.
For the first time since his first 3 full seasons in the league, 2014-17, Stone managed to play at least 60 games in back to back seasons. But he only played 60 games and also missed 5 playoff games.
Honestly, I feel the same way about St Louis that a lot of outside fans must have felt about Brind'Amour as a coach ... surprised, but pleasantly so. Montreal took a while to get there, but they play an interesting style of hockey and he's got them sticking to it every game. That's a much higher bar than people seem to think. You can always pick nits with style preferences and stuff, but coaches who can actually implement a repeatable system that actually produces wins are more rare than we acknowledge.
They play a lot like he played. Just like the Canes play a lot like Brind’Amour played. A lot of great players don’t make decent coaches…looking at you, Dwayne Jetski…but RBA and Frodo have managed to do it.
