They did it. They actually fucking did it.
Feel like I’ve used that one before. A few times actually.
The Ottawa Senators have traded their heart, they’ve traded their soul and they’ve traded their best player. Again.
Mark Stone is a member of the Vegas Golden Knights.
Drafted in the 6th round in 2010, Mark Stone was a long-shot to make the NHL. He doesn’t skate well enough, was what many of the experts said. They were wrong. They were so, so wrong. In his time in Ottawa, Stone went from a prospect, to a productive NHLer and eventually, to the point where he was in the conversation as one of the best wingers in the game.
And as he enters the prime of his career, he’s being shipped out of town.
The deal- Mark Stone (and Tobias Lindberg apparently) to the Vegas Golden Knights. Erik Brännström, Oscar Lindberg and a 2020 2nd round pick to the Ottawa Senators.
In Erik Brännström, the Senators are getting a potential star. No first round pick is disappointing but getting a known entity like Brännström was probably a smart move by Dorion, especially with so many picks already in hand.
Brännström wore the C for Team Sweden at the World Juniors this year and his highlight reel from that tournament is jaw-dropping.
Elite skating ability, high-end offensive instincts and just so dangerous and shifty with the puck on his stick.
Brännström will report to Belleville and figures to be an important piece in that team’s push for a playoff spot. He has 28 points in 41 games with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League.
Ottawa also gets back a UFA-to-be in Oscar Lindberg and a 2nd round pick in the 2020 draft. The Senators now own every second round pick from now until the end of time. Seven of them over the next three drafts.
And while fans seemed to be mostly okay with the return, the conversation is rightfully focused on what led to Eugene Melnyk sending another star player out of town.
It wasn’t about money. Or, you know, it was. They tried to keep him. Or the trade was part of the rebuild plan all along. Mark Stone loved Ottawa. But also, he wanted to win and therefore fell in love with Vegas in the span of about 20 minutes.
It’s all very familiar at this point.
Honestly, there probably isn’t much the organization could have said yesterday to ease the frustration fans are feeling these days but Pierre Dorion’s interview on TSN 1200 somehow managed to make a difficult day even worse.
The GM should be happy about acquiring a player like Brännström and honestly, he really should feel good about the pieces they have in place for this rebuild. But it’s also his job to read the room and his comments suggest either he doesn’t care what fans think or he honestly has no idea.
Either way, it was an awful look for Dorion.
Meanwhile, Mark Stone was saying all the right things on his way to Vegas.
In his comments to TSN following the trade and before the ink had even dried on his new 8 year deal with the Golden Knights, Stone specifically mentioned Ownership’s commitment to winning as one of the things that really sold him on Vegas.
You hear that, Eugene?
Those favourable tax rates and wacky pregame ceremonies probably helped too.
Based on some of the initial reaction to this trade on social media and in the comment section, reviews are mixed. And that’s probably the way it should be when trading a player of Stone’s stature. Devastated to see him go but at the same time, intrigued by the young player coming the other way.
It’s just…it’s going to be so weird to see a Senators team without Mark Stone.
Not only was Stone this team’s best player but he was just…he was their pulse. He was everything you want an Ottawa Senator to be. Talented, hard-working, a professional on and off the ice and just so clearly passionate about the logo on the front of his jersey.
It was impossible not to see Daniel Alfredsson-like qualities in his game. And had he stuck around, there was no doubt he would have eventually stood side by side with Alfie as one of the most beloved players in Sens history. And maybe even had that 61 hang next to the 11 some day.
Instead, he’s gone. The dismantling of the Ottawa Senators is complete.
There are better days ahead for this franchise. It’s just sort of hard to see them on another one of the worst.
