No NHL team could have more representatives on Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster than Wednesday’s visiting Vegas Golden Knights, who almost surely will trot out the defence pairing of Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore, Adin Hill as one of the three goalies and quite possibly their healthy captain Mark Stone.
Stone, who has had two major back issues and a lacerated spleen to recover from, wasn’t on a lot of preliminary speculation roster lists because of Canada’s deep pool of forwards, but he firmly is in the picture now with Dec. 1 being the deadline for the roster submission, barring later injuries, before the February Face-off.
Stone, now playing right wing with Jack Eichel, who will be on Team U.S.A. as their No. 1 centre, entered the matchup against Edmonton Oilers sixth in NHL scoring, with his 20 points in just 12 games. Nate MacKinnon (25), Cale Makar (23), Nikita Kucherov, Sam Reinhart and Kirill Kaprizov (all 21 points) are the only players ahead of the 32-year-old Stone.
MacKinnon could move from centre to right wing on the Canadian team, with Reinhart and Mitch Marner in the top three with Oilers forward Zach Hyman, if he starts scoring more, maybe shuffling over to play left wing with Connor McDavid. Whatever, Stone, even with his muddy-tracks skating style, is smart enough, also versatile enough as a player who has received votes for the Hart, Selke and Lady Byng in his career, to fit just about anywhere — penalty kill, power play — even on a racehorse team in a thoroughbred four-team tournament.
Stone wasn’t available to talk Wednesday morning at Rogers Place but his Golden Knights’ GM Kelly McCrimmon filled in admirably for his captain.
“I’m hopeful Mark gets an opportunity to represent Canada in the 4 Nations. We’ll see how it plays out,” said McCrimmon, who goes all the way to his junior hockey days in Brandon with Stone, and has seen how his skill, along with his scratching and clawing, got him to where he is now after being a sixth-round 2010 draft pick at 178th overall. Scouts were lukewarm on his NHL potential because of his awkward skating style.
Stone has 587 points in 652 regular-season games, and 77 more in 102 playoff games, so he produces. But not at this fast a rate? Why is he challenging for the scoring lead this fall?
Training and good health, clearly.
“He’s had injuries three years, the first two involved back surgeries, which limited his ability to train in the summer, and the last one was the spleen which healed,” said McCrimmon. “There was the one back surgery, then the second time they put a device in the back (to stabilize it). Then last season, he never missed a game or a practice for 56 games, but had the lacerated spleen” from a hit by Yakov Trenin.
“I don’t think you can say he’s injury-prone, but when it’s on the heels of the years before, that’s what people might think. But this was freak, internal-organ thing, a weird one. Because were out of the playoffs last spring in the first round, this has been his best season in terms of preparation,”
Playing him with Eichel also looks like a master stroke right now.
“Mark is a real line- and play-driver. Jack Eichel is, as well. They’ve never played together before but when you put them together, it elevates each of them. They’ve been really good with Ivan Barbashev on the left wing,” said McCrimmon.
Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy knows how valuable Stone is.
“He’s always played well when healthy but unfortunately he hasn’t been able to finish seasons. Right now he’s with Eichel and they’re clicking. That was (Jonathan) Marchessault’s spot before. Usually cerebral players will figure it out,” said Cassidy, part of the Canadian coaching team staff for the 4 Nations.
“He’s an elite player and if you can’t play full seasons his point totals won’t equate but he’s had a full summer to train. With the back, in the past, he spent more time rehabbing,” said Cassidy, part of the Canadian coaching team for the 4 Nations.
But how does a player who has never been overly fast compete with younger, fleeter kids? “Well, his hockey sense is elite … when you watch him over and over, he puts the puck in a better place, gets it to the people to carry it up the ice. If he’s making the entry, he’ll use the time to make a play. That’s his strength,” said McCrimmon.
“He’s unique, it’s different from watching most top players. You watch Jack Eichel, or Leon (Draisaitl) or Connor, they’ve got such obvious skill sets that realize why they’re so good. Mark’s is different,” said McCrimmon.
Speed is overrated, frankly. How fast was Pavel Datsyuk or Henrik Zetterberg?
The scouts didn’t think Stone had it as a junior. Good hands, awkward feet.
“Yeah, it was his skating. Coming out a junior, he had the height, but not the strength, too, that’s why he played in the American Hockey League. That’s what I tell all of our young players … that’s where Mark Stone started,” said McCrimmon.
“In his draft year, we hosted the Memorial Cup, and he was a fourth-line winger along with Michael Ferland, and both got drafted, but not high,” said McCrimmon, who has been GM, coach and owner with the Wheat Kings.
“As smart a player as Mark Stone is, Bob Lowes (former Wheat Kings head coach and later scout) was smart enough to draft Mark when he worked for Ottawa. Now Bob’s with us (as assistant director of player personnel),” said McCrimmon.
“And, for me, Mark is a better skater than you think. When he needs to back-check or track pucks, or he’s middle-lane driving on an entry, it’s how he likes to play the game,” he said.
“It’s how you think the game, too. One guy who comes to mind on that is Paul Stastny. Not a great skater but he was a thinker. I always enjoyed his thoughts on the game,” said McCrimmon, who detoured to talk of his late brother Brad, who died in the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv plane crash, and what Brad thought of skating.
“Brad used to bring up Tim Kerr. For a guy who can’t skate, he said he sure seems to stand in the right spot a lot. He was an oak tree,” said Kelly McCrimmon.
So is the possibility of having four players in the 4 Nations with Canada, plus Eichel with the Americans and maybe defenceman Noah Hanifin with U.S.A. and the underrated two-way centre William Karlsson with Sweden also in the mix for their teams, a good or bad thing?
“Good question,” said McCrimmon, who’ll have his guys playing while much of the league is resting for 10 days in February.
“No one’s happier than Leon Draisaitl,” he said.
Germany’s not in it.
“He’ll come back full of piss and vinegar.”
Cassidy wants his players in the 4 Nations.
“I think it’s an honour to play in it. We have a lot of Canadians on our team and I’ve been part of the (selection) questions. Plus we’ve got Karlsson maybe with Sweden. Jack’s automatic, Hanifin’s in the mix with the Americans,” said Cassidy.