Golden Knights GM issues alarming update on franchise cornerstone

Star Vegas Golden Knights forward Mark Stone will be “out for a while,” per general manager Kelly McCrimmon, who shared the update with Pierre McGuire and Jimmy Murphy on the latest episode of "The Sick Podcast — The Eye Test." McCrimmon added some good news, saying that Jack Eichel and William Carrier are nearing a return.

Stone suffered an apparent upper-body injury in the team’s Tuesday night game against the Nashville Predators, after receiving a big hit from Yakov Trenin. Trenin earned an interference penalty on the play. Stone’s injury is a tremendous loss for the Golden Knights. The 31-year-old winger currently leads the team in scoring, with 16 goals and 53 points through 56 games. It’s yet another successful season for Stone, who has totaled 256 points in 274 games since joining the Golden Knights in 2018-19. 

Unfortunately, productivity isn’t the only consistent for Stone — as he is yet again facing a long-term injury in the second half of the season. Stone has had an upper-body injury hold him out from February to April in each of the last two seasons, earning a spot on injured reserve each time. Vegas will hope lightning doesn’t strike for a third time this season, with Stone so far remaining off IR.

If Vegas does lose Stone, they’ll quickly turn their toward Jack Eichel, who has been out of action since Jan. 11 with a knee injury. Eichel was moved to long-term injured reserve on Monday, though he has already missed the required amount of time and will be eligible to return as soon as he’s healthy. He has been Vegas’ most-productive scorer, operating as the only Golden Knight scoring above a point-per-game pace with 19 goals and 44 points through 42 games. 

Eichel has also been consistently limited by injury, with 67 games last season marking the most he’s played in one year since the 2019-20 campaign. He’ll have a chance to beat that mark by one game, with 26 games remaining on Vegas’ schedule, but he’d have to return on Thursday to maintain that pace.