Mark Stone is off to the best start of his NHL career.
As Sens fans, we can argue about pretty much anything but you won’t find anyone that disputes the fact that Stone has been Ottawa’s best forward through the first 16 games of the season.
He leads the team in goals, points and plus minus and has been their best player at 5 on 5. Only Nikita Kucherov, John Tavares and Alex Ovechkin have scored more goals this year. Pretty impressive company. Incredibly, all 12 of Stone’s goals have been scored at even strength, ranking him behind only Kucherov in that category.
Stone scored three times during the team’s trip to Sweden and he has goals in four straight dating back to the one he scored against Detroit back on November 2nd.
It’s safe to say that Mark Stone is playing some of the best hockey of his NHL career.
Oh and he’s a restricted free agent at the end of the season.
With so many important contracts looming on the horizon for the Senators, it’s a decision on Mark Stone that will be their next big test. He has solidified himself as a crucial part of this team’s core and at just 25 years of age, it’s clear that his best days are still ahead of him. And that’s what makes his next contract, almost certainly a long-term one, such an important move for the organization.
Based on what Pierre Dorion had to say yesterday on TSN1200, it sounds like he’s already rolled up his sleeves and made some progress in those negotiations.
At one point in the interview (around 19:00), Dorion talked about some positive talks with one of the team’s RFAs and then when they followed up at the end of the interview (27:20) and asked if #61 was the guy they were talking with, Dorion reluctantly replied…”Perhaps.”
Stone is currently in the final year of a three year contract that carries a cap hit of $3.5 mil a season. He’s earning $4.5 million this year.
When he’s healthy, Stone is one of the game’s most unique and dangerous players. He’s scored some big goals in the first 265 games of his career, but playoff success (and more importantly health) has eluded him to this point. Had he been at 100% during last year’s playoff run, he could have been the difference. I mean, he has scored a big overtime goal against the Penguins before.
It’s no surprise that the organization recognizes Stone’s next deal as an important one but it’s certainly encouraging to hear Dorion hint that there may already be some progress on that front.
-Another update from yesterday’s interview with Pierre Dorion focused on injured forward Clarke MacArthur. While it was largely assumed he wasn’t coming back, yesterday was the first time the organization confirmed it publicly. MacArthur has apparently moved to Florida and the team isn’t expecting him back. While Dorion left it sort of open-ended, suggesting MacArthur could try again next year if he wanted, that seems highly unlikely. As we expected when we heard he failed that medical back in September, this is likely the end of the line for MacArthur.
-The Senators are back on the ice for practice at 10:30 AM and are expected to have both Bobby Ryan and Mark Borowiecki. Both players were activated from the IR on Monday and both could play tomorrow night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team may also call up another forward following Belleville’s game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Here’s how Boucher has his team lined up at practice today.
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