The minor penalty call irked Stars head coach Peter DeBoer who wondered why the refs didn’t call a five-minute major to review the incident. DeBoer then added that he’s coached Stone before and knows he isn’t a dirty player, but didn’t understand why the refs didn’t have a second look.

Heiskanen is expected to play big minutes for Finland at the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off after being named to the team last June. He was among the first six players announced, and now with this injury, it throws his availability into question.

The 25-year-old remains one of the top defensemen in the NHL, finishing top 12 in Norris Trophy consideration in four of the past five seasons. While his offensive numbers have dipped this season to five goals and 20 assists in 50 games, he remains one of the NHL’s best two-way defensemen.

The Stars have yet to provide an update on Heiskanen’s status, however, it is safe to assume he will undergo evaluation at some point in the next day or two. Dallas doesn’t play again until Friday against Vancouver.

More from the Pacific:

• Sharks center Will Smith is listed as a game-time decision for Saturday’s game versus Florida, relays Max Miller of The Hockey News. Head coach Ryan Warsofsky indicated that the rookie is dealing with an upper-body injury but wasn’t sure when it happened.  Smith is off to a decent start to his NHL career, posting five goals and six assists while averaging a little over 14 minutes a night as San Jose tries to ease him in to an extent.
• Kraken center Yanni Gourde missed tonight’s game versus New Jersey with an undisclosed injury, per NHL.com’s Mike Morreale (Twitter link). The 32-year-old has four goals and eight assists in 27 games so far while averaging just 15:29 per night, his lowest ATOI since the 2019-20 campaign when he was with Tampa Bay.  Gourde missed the final 17 minutes of action on Thursday night while the injury is not believed to be a long-term issue.
• Flames prospect Zayne Parekh has been added to Canada’s World Junior camp roster as first reported by TSN’s Bob McKenzie (Twitter link). Calgary drafted the blueliner ninth overall back in June following a dominant showing with OHL Saginaw that saw him record 33 goals and 63 assists in 66 games.  He’s at a slightly lesser pace this season but still has eight goals and 22 helpers in 23 appearances.  Parekh will take the place of Penguins prospect Harrison Brunicke who was initially named to the camp roster but won’t be able to participate due to injury.

Vancouver has won two games in a row without Hronek on the top defensive-pairing but will have a much more difficult matchup tonight against the Minnesota Wild. The Kralove, Czechia native had one goal and nine points for the Canucks in 21 games and will look to build upon that when he returns in late January or early February. Tyler Myers has filled the void left by Hronek over the last two games but Vancouver would do well to add a better right-handed option on defense from the trade market.

Reports from a few days ago indicated that the New York Rangers were interested in acquiring J.T. Miller from Vancouver. Assuming that the reports are true, and factoring in the Rangers’ recent desire to move on from Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba, the two teams could get involved in a blockbuster deal that would benefit both sides.

Other Pacific notes:

• According to Tom Gulitti of the NHL, the San Jose Sharks are expecting defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic back before the conclusion of their current six-game road trip. An upper-back injury has prohibited Vlasic from debuting in his 19th NHL season up to this point in the NHL calendar. His return will give a slight boost to the surprisingly solid left side of the defense for San Jose.
• Zach Hyman’s absence from the Edmonton Oilers will reportedly enter its fifth game tonight (X Link). Edmonton is lucky it’s only been five games for Hyman but the team had a five-game break at the end of November to lean on. Still, on the opposite side of a 50-goal campaign, the Oilers could use Hyman’s goal-scoring touch back in the lineup if they hope to stay competitive in a tough Pacific Division.
• The Seattle Kraken won’t have defenseman Ryker Evans in the lineup tonight due to injury. Television broadcaster Piper Shaw shared that Evans is out with an undisclosed injury but there were no further updates regarding his timeline. It’s a big loss for the Kraken before a tough contest against the Carolina Hurricanes as Evans sits tied for second on the team in scoring with three goals and 16 points in 25 games.
• It’ll still be a few days before defenseman Zach Whitecloud returns to the Vegas Golden Knights lineup. According to Jesse Granger of The Athletic, Whitecloud is still considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury and will miss his fifth straight game tonight. It’s not all bad news on the injury front for the Golden Knights as Granger later reported that captain Mark Stone was upgraded to a full-contact jersey at today’s practice meaning he should return soon.

More from the Western Conference:

• The NHL announced that Oilers winger Jeff Skinner has been fined $2K for embellishment. It’s the second time he has been flagged for that this season with the first only drawing a warning.  The 32-year-old has struggled in his first year with Edmonton, notching just four goals and four assists in 24 games while averaging just 13:38 per game, a career-low ATOI.
• Utah Hockey Club netminder Connor Ingram is not close to returning to the lineup, head coach Andre Tourigny told reporters including Cole Bagley of KSL Sports (Twitter link). The reigning Masterton Trophy winner had a rocky start to his season, posting a 3.61 GAA with a .871 SV%, a 36-point drop in that category compared to 2023-24.  Ingram sustained an upper-body injury last month and was only ruled out for their road trip at that time but clearly, he’ll be out for a while yet.
• While Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord was a speculative candidate to make Canada’s roster for the 4 Nations Cup since he holds Canadian citizenship, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported over the weekend that this is not the case. Daccord does not have a Canadian passport which is one of the eligibility criteria for the tournament.  However, it’s expected that he will get one in the near future, making him eligible to be named as a replacement should one of the three netminders named on Wednesday get injured leading up to the event.  Regardless of whether he suits up in this event, he remains eligible to play for Canada, the United States, and Switzerland internationally.
• Jets prospect Brayden Yager is on the move in the WHL. Lethbridge announced that they’ve acquired the center as part of a five-player, six-pick trade with Moose Jaw.  The 19-year-old was drafted 14th overall by Pittsburgh in 2023 and was flipped to Winnipeg in the Rutger McGroarty trade over the offseason.  Yager had 30 points in 21 games prior to the swap and projects to be an impact player for Canada at the upcoming World Juniors.

Per PuckPedia, the order of transactions here is especially relevant. Vegas assigned winger Victor Olofsson, who had been on LTIR since last month, to AHL Henderson on a conditioning loan yesterday but activated him before doing so, keeping them briefly cap-compliant without using LTIR.

This resets their capture, allowing them to re-optimize how much temporary flexibility they could achieve from Hutton’s LTIR placement. They moved Stone to IR and recalled Morelli and Røndbjerg all before placing Hutton on LTIR, then recalled Burke as the final transaction. After the moves, the Knights have a full active roster with 15 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders with $200K left in their LTIR pool.

For Stone, the IR placement is purely for roster management purposes and doesn’t affect his return timeline. He can be activated at any time since he’s already missed more than seven days, and since he’s on IR and not LTIR, his $9.5MM cap hit still effectively counts against Vegas’ books. The captain shouldn’t be too far off from a return after starting the season on a tear with six goals and 15 assists for 21 points in 13 games.

Hutton, 31, sustained the injury early in Sunday’s game against the Capitals and left after just four shifts and 2:40 of ice time. Vegas’ seventh defender for the past four years was a healthy scratch for 12 games in a row to begin the season but had played in five of their last six games, posting no points, five hits and three blocks while averaging 11:40 per contest and occasionally suiting up at right wing while Vegas dressed only 11 forwards.

He’s listed as week-to-week and won’t be eligible to return until Dec. 12 at the earliest now that he’s on LTIR. It’s far from a monumental loss, given how little he’d played, but it still stretches their defensive depth thin with Nicolas Hague already on IR with an undisclosed injury.

The moves mean that the Golden Knights’ recent stretch of running 11 forwards and seven defensemen is over, with only six blue-liners available on the roster. That means that one of Burke, Morelli or Røndbjerg will enter the lineup Wednesday against the Maple Leafs, likely the latter.

The 25-year-old Røndbjerg has played in a pair of games already for Vegas this season amid some short-term call-ups, posting a -1 rating and averaging just 7:33 per night. The Danish winger was a third-round pick in the Knights’ inaugural 2017 draft class and has three goals and seven assists for 10 points in 65 career NHL games dating back to his debut in 2021-22.

Burke, 27, is in his first season in the Vegas organization after signing a two-way contract as a UFA over the summer. The 5’10” forward has two goals and four assists for six points in 11 appearances with Henderson this season. The undrafted Notre Dame product is still looking for his first NHL point despite playing in a trio of games with the Avalanche and Hurricanes in spot duty over the past two years.

Morelli, 28, made his NHL debut for the Golden Knights last season amid a rash of forward injuries, scoring three times in nine games while adding an assist. The North Dakota native spent the first four seasons of his professional career on AHL contracts before earning an NHL deal with Vegas last year. He now serves as an alternate captain for Henderson and is tied for the team lead with five goals in 13 games, adding four assists for nine points.

Stone has long had issues with his health, having played 80 or more games only once in his 13-year NHL career. His health has been a major concern over the past three seasons as Stone has missed 110 games dating back to the 2021-22 season.

In other evening notes:

• Newly acquired Washington Capitals forward Lars Eller didn’t participate in the team’s optional morning skate today and did not dress for their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening (as per Sammi Silber of The Hockey News). Eller was acquired yesterday by the Capitals in exchange for two draft picks and likely won’t suit up for his new team until Friday night when they take on one of Eller’s former teams, the Colorado Avalanche.
• Injured Capitals forward Sonny Milano is still not skating and remains sidelined with an upper-body injury (as per Sammi Silber). Milano remains on the injured reserve and has no definite timeline to return to the lineup (as per Silber). Milano has played just 21:38 this season in three games and has been a scratch even when healthy. His spot in the NHL lineup was precarious at best, and now with the Eller trade, it’s possible that the 28-year-old could be the odd man out.

According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, that’s not for a lack of trying. In last week’s rendition of ’The Latest’, Pagnotta said, “He wants to go to a contender, just like John Gibson, the goaltender there as well. They’re kind of over this little rebuild situation that they’re in. But because of that extra year, that value is propped up a little bit. He’s not an expiring deal. This isn’t a rental situation. So those conversations will continue as the season progresses.”

He went on to note that Fowler may be interested in waiving his four-team no-trade clause to help facilitate a deal and Anaheim would retain some salary on their end. Few contending teams could absorb Fowler’s $6.5MM cap hit for this season and next but the Winnipeg Jets, Los Angeles Kings, and Utah Hockey Club all strike as clear choices that could use a veteran presence in their top-four.

Other Pacific notes:

• The Vegas Golden Knights were dealt a blow a few days ago after captain Mark Stone went down with a lower-body injury. Thankfully there won’t be any long-term concern for Stone as Elliotte Friedman reported the injury isn’t considered serious. Stone hasn’t participated in a full season since the 2020-21 campaign. Still, the Golden Knights will want to get him as close as possible this year with Stone scoring six goals and 21 points already in only 13 games.
• According to beat reporter Max Miller, San Jose Sharks defenseman Jake Walman will miss his fourth straight game due to an upper-body injury. The Sharks have weathered the storm without Walman with two wins in their last three games but the injury is a major buzzkill for a defenseman who recorded seven points in four games before the injury.
• Philipp Grubauer still isn’t ready for the Seattle Kraken meaning the team had to get a second goaltender on the roster. For the second time in less than a week, the team announced they had recalled netminder Ales Stezka from their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, on an emergency basis. Stezka has a 2-5-0 record with the Firebirds this season with a .894 SV% but has yet to debut with the Kraken.
• It became apparent rather quickly that Vancouver Canucks’ forward Brock Boeser would miss some time after being on the receiving end of a hit from Los Angeles Kings forward Tanner Jeannot which warranted a three-game suspension. Offering an update this afternoon, Vancouver’s play-by-play announcer, Brendan Batchelor, shared that Boeser is only expected to miss the next few days. This means that Boeser will likely miss Vancouver’s game tomorrow night against the Calgary Flames but could return for Thursday’s action against the New York Islanders.
• Unfortunately, the Canucks won’t be able to replace Boeser with Dakota Joshua as Batchelor also shared he isn’t expected to return tomorrow. There’s no indication that Joshua suffered a setback in his recovery from testicular cancer. Still, the team is likely doing its due diligence to be sure that Joshua is fully healthy and ready for game speed.

More from the Pacific:

• The Ducks have activated goaltender John Gibson from injured reserve, relays Derek Lee of The Hockey News (Twitter link). The 31-year-old has yet to play this season after undergoing an appendectomy during the preseason.  After being a top performer early in his career, Gibson has struggled considerably in recent years and posted a 3.54 GAA with a career-low .888 SV% in 46 games last season.  Anaheim now has three goalies on its active roster with the others being Lukas Dostal and James Reimer.  Reimer was claimed off waivers last month and unless the Ducks want to carry three goalies for a while, he could be back on the wire soon.
• While he missed Thursday’s game due to an upper-body injury, Sharks defenseman Jake Walman is with the team on their road trip that begins on Sunday, relays Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. There has been some confusion about whether Walman’s absence was initially injury-related or just being a scratch but it’s clear he isn’t fully healthy at the time being.  The 28-year-old was acquired in a cap-clearing move from Detroit over the offseason and has been a big boost to San Jose’s back end.  Through 13 games this season, he leads their blueline group with nine points (including eight assists, one off his career-high) and an ATOI of 22:42 so whenever he’s cleared to return, he’ll be a welcome addition to their lineup.
• The Golden Knights announced (Twitter link) that winger Mark Stone is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The injury explains the earlier recall of winger Jonas Rondbjerg from the minors.  Stone is off to a terrific start to the season, recording six goals and 15 assists in 13 games so far to lead the team in scoring while logging over 19 minutes a night so his absence will certainly be felt.

More from the West:

• Golden Knights winger Mark Stone missed practice today for personal reasons, the team announced (Twitter link). The 32-year-old is off to quite the start to his season, leading the league in scoring with five goals and 14 assists in 11 games.  Stone has dealt with lingering back issues for the past several years but fortunately for Vegas, this absence isn’t injury-related.  It’s unclear if he will be available for their next game Saturday versus Utah as his wife is ready to give birth to their second child.
• Still with Vegas, the team also noted (Twitter link) that defenseman Nicolas Hague was back at practice today. He has been dealing with an upper-body injury that has kept him out of the lineup for three straight games but he wasn’t moved to injured reserve.  The 25-year-old was off to a slow start before the injury, notching one goal, 11 blocks, and nine hits in eight games so far.
• With the Wild back at home for the first time in nearly three weeks, they will indeed welcome Ryan Hartman back to the lineup tonight against Tampa Bay, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo (Twitter link). That was the expected outcome after Liam Ohgren was returned to the minors yesterday.  Hartman missed the last five games with an upper-body injury after scoring twice in his first four outings.

Edmonton is pretty set at forward, but their defense leaves a lot to be desired outside of their top pairing. There are a lot of question marks on the bottom two pairings and one could argue they don’t have another top-four defenseman beyond Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm. The Oilers won’t find a second-pairing defenseman in free agency but could look at Kevin Shattenkirk as an option to fill the void. Shattenkirk was just fine last season for the Bruins in a depth role and averaged nearly 20 minutes a game just two seasons ago. He isn’t an ideal second-pairing defenseman, but he is probably a better option than what the Oilers are currently looking to deploy on the right side of their second unit.

In other evening notes:

• St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong spoke today about offer sheets and said he isn’t aware of any GM code regarding the little-used tactic. Armstrong used two offer sheets last week to pry Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg away from the Edmonton Oilers and poured water on the notion that he wouldn’t have done so if former Oilers general manager Ken Holland was still on the job. Armstrong added that he would have tendered the offer sheets to Edmonton even if his own mother was in charge of the team. Offer sheets remain rare in the NHL, and a team using two of them in the same summer is unheard of.
• Vegas Golden Knights writer Gary Lawless spoke with captain Mark Stone recently to discuss the upcoming season. Stone told Lawless that he expects to play 82 games next season after a spleen injury limited him to just 56 games last season. Those 56 games marked a high mark in games played for the 32-year-old since the 2019-20 season when he dressed in 65 games. Stone also added that he’s hoping to make Team Canada for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-off as well as the next Olympics which is certainly a possibility if the Winnipeg, Manitoba native can stay healthy. Stone was terrific in limited time last season, posting 16 goals and 37 assists in the aforementioned 56 games.

9:45 AM: The Golden Knights are expected to activate captain Mark Stone off long-term injured reserve ahead of tonight’s Game 1 against the Stars, reports ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. He’ll likely return to the lineup to kick off the first-round series after missing two months with a Grade 3 spleen laceration.

The timing of Stone’s injury and LTIR placements over the past few seasons have drawn skepticism from nearly every fanbase in the league. A mid-February LTIR placement followed by an activation just before the first playoff game has now happened three seasons in a row, although his absences in 2022 and 2023 were due to lingering back injuries. Speaking to The Athletic’s Jesse Granger over the weekend, Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon offered his explanation/defense:

I want to just touch on a couple of things with it, because there has been a lot of speculation and a lot of insinuation about his injury. The NHL is 100 percent involved in any of these (LTIR) situations involving teams. Their chief medical director speaks to the surgeon, speaks to our medical team, speaks to our athletic therapist, has access to every document that is filed and every diagnostic test that is given. They have access to all of that information. That’s what keeps the system legitimate. They are the people that are fully involved in this. So, I don’t know if maybe the fans or the media understand the degree to which these injuries are scrutinized.

Stone sustained the laceration against the Predators on February 20. He hasn’t played since, although he’s ramped up his workload in practice over the past couple of weeks. A Grade 3 splenic injury certainly qualifies as severe but may not result in an extremely long-term absence – medical literature indicates these can be treated more conservatively than a Grade 4 or 5, the latter of which indicates a wholly ruptured/shattered spleen. McCrimmon says team doctors told him after Stone’s injury that the laceration could carry something as lengthy as a three-to-six-month timeline but could swing less if his recovery went well.

Vegas isn’t the same team without their captain. They went 13-11-2 after his injury, dropping to the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference and earning a date with conference-champion Dallas to open postseason play.

Still, placing his $9.5MM cap hit on LTIR allowed them to go big-game hunting at the trade deadline, picking up Noah Hanifin, Tomáš Hertl and Anthony Mantha with varying degrees of salary retention. Those will be significant reinforcements as Vegas attempts to be the second team this decade to win back-to-back Stanley Cups and the first eight-seed to win since the Kings in 2012.

Stone still managed to finish fourth on the team in scoring with 53 points (16 goals, 37 assists) in 56 games and second on the team in points per game behind Jack Eichel. His defensive impacts weren’t the extremely stout numbers that have earned him Selke nominations in the past, but write off the 31-year-old at your own risk. He erupted for 11 goals and 24 points in 22 postseason games last year, averaging 18:55 per game as Vegas won the Cup only six years into their existence. Line rushes over the weekend indicated that Stone is expected to play on the Knights’ second line, centered by Hertl and flanked by Chandler Stephenson on the left.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

St. Louis has been living lavishly with Buchnevich’s current deal – getting nearly point-per-game scoring for just $5.8MM against the cap. They’ll get one more year of that team-friendly deal, before likely having to shell out a hefty amount to Buchnevich on his next deal. The Blues will have to be careful to find the balance between term and salary, though, with Buchnevich set to be 30 when an extension would begin.

Other notes from around the league:

• Friedman also shared that the Philadelphia Flyers are expected to sign goaltender Ivan Fedotov to a two-year extension soon. The 27-year-old netminder was finally able to move to North America this season, playing in the first three NHL games of his career earlier this month. He was admittedly shaky, allowing 10 goals on 53 shots, good for an .811 save percentage in his first looks at North American ice. But the Flyers have to simply be excited to finally have the stout Russian goaltender under their control, and will give him much more of a chance to get comfortable in North America with a new deal.
• The Vegas Golden Knights could be getting another big boost to their lineup, with winger Mark Stone back to full-contact practice and a game-time decision for Game One of the postseason, per the team (Twitter link). They also shared that defenseman Alex Pietrangelo underwent an appendectomy and returned to a full practice on Saturday. Chandler Stephenson and William Carrier also took full practices. All four players will be hopeful to slot into the lineup as the Golden Knights get ready to take on the Dallas Stars.

Stevens never found much of a scoring groove in Boston, totaling just 50 points in his appearances. 35 of those points came in the last two seasons when Stevens managed 18 and 17 points respectively. And while certainly modest scoring, Stevens was able to earn his keep with very stout defense for a centerman. He’s simply reliable, winning faceoffs and guarding opponents well. He’ll certainly need to improve his energy on the offensive side of the red-line as he approaches pro hockey, but Stevens’ ability to shut down play in his own zone could adapt well to the next level. He’ll look to slot into one of the Marlies remaining two games this regular season.

Other notes from around the league:

• The Buffalo Sabres will have good reason to tune into the 2024 World Championship, as five different Sabres are expected to represent their country, per Rachel Hopmayer of Spectrum News in Buffalo (Twitter link). This includes Owen Power, Bowen Byram, and Dylan Cozens representing Team Canada; Rasmus Dahlin representing Team Sweden; and John-Jason Peterka representing Team Germany. Zach Benson and Jack Quinn also mentioned that they haven’t yet been contacted by Team Canada, though they’d have to discuss with general manager Kevyn Adams before committing, per X (Twitter link).
• Taylor Hall won’t be slotting into the Chicago Blackhawks’ season finale, per Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun Times (Twitter link). This news comes despite Hall appearing at the team’s Thursday morning skate. He’ll close his season having not played since November 19th, when he suffered an ACL injury that required surgery. Hall played in just 10 games this year, the fewest games of a season in his 14-year career. He scored four points in those appearances. Hall is under contract with Chicago through the end of next season, carrying a $6MM cap hit.
• William Carrier and Mark Stone both took the ice at the Vegas Golden Knights’ optional Thursday practice, donning no-contact jerseys, per SinBinVegas (Twitter link). Both players are working their way back from long-term injuries, with Stone out since February 20th with a spleen injury and Carrier sidelined since March 25th with an upper-body injury. Stone returned to practice on April 12th and will push to be ready for the start of Vegas’ playoff race this weekend, though his continued no-contact assignment could shed doubt on his Game One availability.

Vegas moved Stone to standard injured reserve shortly after exiting the lineup and later to LTIR on March 4, a few days before the trade deadline. The increase in cap relief from Stone’s $9.5MM cap hit allowed GM Kelly McCrimmon to go all out, picking up two of the best players on the market in defenseman Noah Hanifin and center Tomáš Hertl, albeit both with significant salary retention from their former clubs.

This year marks the third straight campaign Stone has missed significant time – in fact, his 56 games before sustaining the spleen laceration this year were his most in a season since 2019-20. Back problems were the culprit for his absences over the past two years, including a surgery that sidelined him for the final 39 games of the 2022-23 regular season. He returned in time for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, looking refreshed as he tallied 11 goals in 24 points in 22 games en route to the franchise’s first championship.

Those back problems haven’t cost him any time this season, a promising sign as he still has three years remaining on his contract with a full no-move clause. The two-time Selke Trophy finalist has maintained his reputation as one of the best two-way wingers in the league, posting 16 goals and 53 points in 56 games this year while averaging 19:24 per game. His possession metrics took an uncharacteristic dip, though, failing to dominate shot attempts with a career-low 48.4 CF% at even strength. His 51.7 xGF% and +2.4 expected rating were also his worst since being traded to Vegas in 2019.

The Golden Knights haven’t confirmed Stone’s status for a potential Game 1 of a first-round series next weekend – they need to clinch a spot first, something they can do tonight if they exit their game against the Wild with more points than the Blues do against the Hurricanes. Still, a return to practice a week out paints positive signs for his ability to return at some point before the end of the month.

If he plays, he’ll do so in a new-look VGK top nine, bolstered by the additions of Hertl and Anthony Mantha further down the lineup. He’ll occupy his normal top-six right-wing role, either with Hertl or Jack Eichel at center.

Stone being cleared for game action prior to the final game of the regular season on April 18 would create unimaginable headaches for Vegas. There’s no realistic way for them to be cap-compliant with Stone activated from LTIR, as they’d need to remove more than $8.7MM worth of cap hits from their active roster to reinstate him. Keeping him on LTIR if he’s truly able to return before Game 1 would likely spur a league investigation and could result in penalties for cap circumvention, which could include cap penalties for next season, forfeiture of draft picks at the league’s discretion, and even the forfeiture of any games affected by their circumvention, per the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Eichel has missed the last seven weeks (spanning 19 games) after undergoing surgery to repair a knee injury in mid-January and had been cleared for full contact since Friday.  Despite the extended absence, the 27-year-old still sits third on Vegas with 19 goals and 44 points in 42 games which had earned him an All-Star nod although he couldn’t participate due to the injury.

It has been a rough go as of late for the Golden Knights who won seven of the first nine games without their top middleman but have lost seven of their last nine, dropping them to fourth in the Pacific in terms of point percentage.  If that held, instead of contending for a division title, they’d find themselves in a Wild Card spot so they’ll be counting on Eichel to help right the ship.

As for Stone, his LTIR placement has been widely expected.  The 31-year-old last played on February 20th with what has been reported as a lacerated spleen, one that will keep him out of the rest of the regular season at least; his availability for the start of the playoffs remains in question.  His absence has also been significant as Stone is still tied for the team lead in points (53) and leads Vegas in assists with 37.

The fact that Stone will miss the rest of the regular season means that the Golden Knights can use the remainder of their LTIR pool – a little over $7MM – to add to their roster before Friday’s trade deadline.

As for Brisson, the 22-year-old was up on an emergency recall and hasn’t looked out of place in his first taste of NHL action over the last seven weeks.  Brisson has two goals and four assists with Vegas so far this season while logging 12:39 per night, good numbers for a rookie.  Meanwhile, with the Silver Knights, he has been more productive, notching 12 goals and 14 helpers in 41 contests.  While Vegas had the ability to keep Brisson on the active roster, it makes more sense to send him down if he isn’t going to play in their top 12 for the time being.