Amazing Mark Stone stat comes to light as Vegas Golden Knights rule out captain for regular season

By Ryan Gagne

Modified Mar 09, 2024 22:55 GMT

Mark Stone joined the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 25, 2019, in a trade from the Ottawa Senators. The deal included Tobias Lindberg in exchange for Erik Bränström, Oscar Lindberg and a 2020 second-round draft pick (Egor Sokolov).

Since then, the Golden Knights have played 373 games, earning a 217-120-36 record, good enough for a .581 win percentage. After an early first-round exit during Stone's first season, the team advanced to the Western Conference Final the following year.

Mark Stone, Captain of the Vegas Golden Knights

During the 2020-21 season, they were defeated in the second round before missing the playoffs in 2021-22, Stone's second season as team captain. However, those years fail in comparison to the championship season of 2022-23, with a five-game series win over the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.

Stone has played in 274 games in Vegas, accounting for 73.4% of all possible contests. He's scored 89 goals, including his first three career hat tricks, and has 186 assists for 256 points. His points-per-game pace is .934, slightly higher than his .849 ppg during his seven seasons with the Ottawa Senators.

Interestingly, Stone has only scored 20 goals twice since moving to Vegas. It is not the same production level as his five straight 20-goal campaigns in Canada's capital.

However, this isn't the most interesting statistic about Stone's career with the Golden Knights. The most fascinating statistics are the team's win/loss totals and overall production numbers.

How does the Golden Knights perform without captain Mark Stone?

When the 31-year-old Stone is skating, the Golden Knights have won 60.2% of their games, earning a record of 165-83-26. Vegas has also outscored opponents by a wide margin of 924-756, for a goal differential of plus-168.

However, the numbers are pretty different without Stone in the lineup, a situation they will find themselves in for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. Stone has been ruled out with a lacerated spleen.

In 99 games without the franchise's 10th-leading scorer all-time, their record dips to 52-37-10, which equals a respectable .525 win percentage. Although that is a drop of 0.077 percentage points, it's not the worst statistic.

Without Stone, the Golden Knights barely outscore their opponents, with a plus-five goal differential of 298-293.

The Vegas leader is associated with the offense, including a hat trick in the Cup-clinching game. This means he is often overlooked for his complete game as one of the league's most underrated defensive forwards.

During his first season, Stone finished 46th in Frank J. Selke Trophy voting, jumping to 18th and 6th before dipping down to 22nd in 2018. However, he was runner-up in 2018-19 when he swapped conferences.

Since suiting up in a Golden Knights sweater, Stone has finished 5th, 3rd and 18th in voting without a nomination in 2021-22, when he played only 37 games.

Digging deep into the statistics, it is clear that Vegas struggles on both ends of the ice without Stone. They can't score to collect wins or keep the puck out of their net, resulting in higher goals-against averages and losses.

Even if the captain returns for the postseason, he may not be 100% healthy and might not raise his game to the level expected. Just dressing would serve as a motivation for Vegas, but the statistics don't lie. The team would need him to do more than pull on his jersey if it wants to continue its successful run.