Stone signs 2-year, $18 million contract with Golden Knights

Mark Stone signed a two-year, $18 million contract with the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. It begins next season and has an average annual value of $9 million.

The 34-year-old forward is in the final season of an eight-year, $76 million contract ($9.5 million AAV) he signed with Vegas on March 8, 2019, and could have become an unrestricted free agent. His 73 points (28 goals, 45 assists) in 60 games last season were third on the Golden Knights, and he had 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in 17 Stanley Cup Playoff games to help them reach the Stanley Cup Final, a six-game loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

"Mark and I have talked probably the most out of any player this summer just because I think he's a very good captain," first-year coach Ryan Craig told the Golden Knights website on Aug. 28. "He's somebody that we talk about a legacy, that wants to win another Stanley Cup, that wants to continue to build that. He's a good conduit for me between our team. 

"I think he's very, very well respected in our dressing room. It meant a lot to me that he showed up on the day I was announced head coach. I think we've had some very good face-to-face conversations, some phone conversations. He's going to be somebody along with our leadership group that I lean a lot on. You talked about the grind of the season and those kinds of things that we have to make sure we're on the same page."

Stone missed 16 games last season from Oct. 20-Nov. 24 with a wrist injury, a 6-4 win at the Los Angeles Kings on Feb. 25 and was sidelined five games from March 3-10 with a lower-body injury. He also did not play Games 4-6 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Anaheim Ducks and Games 1 and 2 of the conference final against the Colorado Avalanche because of an undisclosed injury, returning for Game 3 to help the Golden Knights to a four-game sweep.

Stone, acquired in a trade with the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 25, 2019, was named the Golden Knights' first captain Jan. 13, 2021. He became the first player in the NHL modern era (since 1943-44) to help a team win the Stanley Cup for the first time as its first captain when he had the third hat trick in a Cup-clinching 9-3 victory against the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Final. His 84 points (43 goals, 41 assists) in 102 games are the most in Golden Knights playoff history since they joined the NHL as an expansion team for the 2017-18 season.

Vegas on Sept. 10 signed forward Braeden Bowman to a six-year, $20.4 million contract ($3.4 million AAV) that also starts next season. It opens the regular season at home in Craig's NHL head coaching debut against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sept. 29.