'Where Have I Heard This Before?' Golden Knights' Stone Cleared to Practise Before Playoffs

Mark Stone Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Vegas Golden Knights announced their captain has been cleared to practise with the team with just over a week until the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Mark Stone is expected to participate in a non-contact jersey on Friday during the team’s morning skate. He continues to recover from a lacerated spleen he suffered on Feb. 20 in a game against the Nashville Predators.

Stone, 31, has a $9.5-million cap hit that was moved to long-term injured reserve once Jack Eichel and his $10-million cap hit were taken off LTIR in early March. Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon said Stone would miss the rest of the regular season on trade deadline day.

Forward William Carrier ($1.4-million cap hit) and goaltender Robin Lehner ($5-million cap hit) are also on LTIR, according to PuckPedia. That gives the Golden Knights an LTIR pool of about $15.9 million, which means they can exceed the salary cap by that amount.

Vegas’ current cap hit, including the LTIR pool, is $764,183, per PuckPedia.

At the trade deadline, they acquired Tomas Hertl from the San Jose Sharks with about 17 percent of his salary retained, which leaves the Golden Knights with a roughly $6.75-million cap hit for the next seven seasons.

They also got Noah Hanifin from the Flames, with 50 percent retained by Calgary and another 25 percent retained by the Philadelphia Flyers in a three-team deal, leaving them with about $1.23 million. They moved Daniil Miromanov and his $762,500 cap hit to the Flames in the deal, meaning they added a net-$475,000 to their overall cap hit. On Thursday, the Golden Knights announced they signed the defenseman to an eight-year contract extension worth $7.35 million annually.

The Washington Capitals retained 50 percent of Anthony Mantha’s cap hit when trading him to the Golden Knights as well. His cap hit on Vegas is $2.85 million, and he’s a pending UFA after this season.

Those three trades happened since the Golden Knights put Stone on LTIR. The net cap hit added from those deals add up to about $10.075 million.

There’s no salary cap in the playoffs, meaning if the Golden Knights activate Mark Stone during the post-season, they don’t need to shed salary to fit him in. That’s drawn skepticism from the hockey world about the team upgrading its roster just for their captain to return when the cap goes away.

The LTIR is there to allow a team to adjust when a player is out long-term, as Stone has been with his spleen injury, and the Golden Knights followed the rules as such.

It was also the case last season when Stone was injured from mid-January until Game 1 of the Knights’ Cup-winning playoff campaign after undergoing back surgery. It was his second back injury in nine months, and there was uncertainty about where his career was headed. As much as people question the Golden Knights using the LTIR rules to add players, Stone has dealt with some significant injuries and has still been able to return to lead his team in the important moments.

The Stanley Cup playoffs are scheduled to begin on Jan. 20.