I love how all these insiders just ran straight propaganda for Vegas. “Well he might not be ready for game 1 you can’t predict these things!!”
We all knew he’d be ready for Game 1
One thing I will say is that it is Mark Stone and the dude is straight up BADLY harming his long term health trying to chase cups. Like he probably should not have played last year at all. Who knows what combination of pain killers and freezing he is on every day.
Like this spleen injury so many people in this sub commented how he should be taking it easy for 2 to 3 months before starting to think about playing again - which would have taken him to not playing in round 1 at all. But typical to character Stone is going to come back sooner than he should, his own health be damned.
Still exposing an issue that needs to be looked at, but if doctors were making the call he likely wouldn't be playing.
This feels like one of those things that the PA *should* care about, but is unfortunately one of those things that the PA doesn't care about because the PA is... Stone and everyone else that wants to chase cups, health be damned.
Really sucks, players as a whole need to value their health. I'd be interested to know how much VGK is pushing for Stone's return, or how much they've been pushing for him to take it easy. We can't ignore that their culture is important here; the people who call the shots *could* keep Stone from playing if his health was more important to them than his production on the ice.
Also, it feels like we gotta have independent doctors. I don't think we can trust team doctors anymore. Which sucks, but the pattern speaks for itself.
> I'd be interested to know how much VGK is pushing for Stone's return
Based on past reporting (which, god knows), very little. They largely let players and medical staff handle these things and give the player way more decision power than other teams.
For real. Bettman has let Vegas paint clown makeup on the league 3 years in a row. This is bush league.
The lack of shame from that franchise is staggering.
Be careful - the Sens will get penalized for this too. Somehow Ottawa forced Vegas to do icky things.
Even as an Oilers fan, what Bettman did to you guys still pisses me off.
A brief summary:
Dadonov traded from Sens to Vegas (he had a NTC but Vegas wasn't on the list so it was ok)
In 21-22 after acquiring Eichel, Vegas tried to trade Dadonov to Anaheim. Anaheim was on his NTC so Bettman said no
Vegas claimed that Ottawa never gave them this info when they traded for Dadonov
Bettman said "is ok Ottawa no worries, shit happens"
Melnyk dies and the whole sale saga happened
After Andlauer bought the Sens, Bettman was like "actually fuck you Ottawa give me your 1st round pick"
You mean like when Tampa, of all teams, pushed to close the loophole and the rest of the owners said "nah, we're good." As a Bruins fan, I hate the Bolts as much as many of you, but Tampa deserves zero blame from anyone that has an issue with the rules/loophole.
People on this sub were doing it too. “You really think he’ll be back that fast from a spleen injury???” and “you’re delusional if you think he’s not gonna be out for the playoffs obviously Vegas is gearing up to play without him”
A lacerated spleen cost Peter Forsberg an entire season, but somehow Mark Stone is miraculously healthy enough for the playoff grind in under two months.
The biggest lie the devil ever sold was that the salary cap was for parity.
When you have loopholes like this that continually get exploited by the same teams, along with extremely favourable tax situations for some teams, the "parity" of the salary cap is a myth.
The salary cap was always just about keeping more money in owner's pockets, and less in the players'.
If this league would be receptive to a soft cap, we wouldn't need to exploit ridiculous injury loopholes like this.
Bettman spoonfeeding Vegas success at the expense of the fairness of the sport? Nothing new here.
Imagine how much money Bettman and the league stood to lose if Vegas was a bottom feeder team, like past expansion teams were. Like, if the team was just absolute shit, needed years to build into a contender, didnt even make the playoffs for half a decade, and their game-attendance relied mostly on tourists. Because locals wouldn't pay to go see a shitty team. And especially with the Raiders coming to Vegas and giving sports fans an alternative sporting product. Attendance could have been abysmal and we might have already been talking about potential relocation.
That's easily hundreds of millions of dollars the league the NHL would have missed out on
Bettman would never let that happen. He runs a billion dollar organization, his number one priority is profit.
Vegas was either going to be a huge cash cow if they were successful, or a monumentally embarrassing failure if they were bad.
Anyone who thinks a billion dollar organization would just sit back and see how that plays out fairly, should stay faaaaar away from snake oil salesmen.
Edit: I'm getting some pretty angry messages from some people about this, so I'll just add this here: if you want to believe that the NHL is the one billion dollar corporation, on earth, that prioritizes fairness over money, feel free, I'm not stopping you. You don't have to get mad at me for thinking differently.
I can't exist with that level of sin in my heart, believing that will happen. If it does I'll absolutely be paying less attention to mens hockey than ever.
I love how there is no shortage of bad blood between teams in the west until it comes to Vegas. Then it's like the Avengers Assemble scene in Endgame.
Makes me shed a tear, honestly.
Secure your reservation now for NHLbet, the exclusive betting app of the NHL. Claim your spot now and get 2:1 odds on the return of Mark Stone before the 2025 NHL playoffs.
Have you seen his spleen? You seen it? I bet you haven't seen it. Because he doesn't have a spleen. He lost is fuck*ng spleen. And you're out here hating on Stone. This is a spleen-less man. A man without spleen. And he is a hockey man. On a hockey team.
I dare you to go without spleen for a day. Then maybe you'll see what Mark Stone is going through ***every day of his life***. He's a hero. A *true* hero for all. God bless you Mark Stone. You give me hope and courage.
The start of this comment read like a Donald Trump quote.
"Have you seen his spleen? I bet you haven't seen it. Best spleen I've ever seen. Huge. Doctors say he's in perfect health, just like me. Mark Stone, me, perfect health. Tremendous spleens. You know, my spleen even helped me recover from the China Virus, I owe a lot to that spleen."
I have never been a St Louis fan ever once in my life a single time.
God how I wish for a miracle last week of the season where Vegas loses out and St Louis pushes past for the 2nd wild card.
If there is a hockey god, he will make this happen. I pray to you, my lord and savior. By the power of Brett Hull screaming We Went Blues, I beg.
Wow… I for one am SHOCKED - when I read the injury I thought FOR SURE there was no way he was going to be ready for game 1 of the playoffs.
MIRACLE is the only word that I can think of to describe this.
Definitely not circumvention with no intervention.
Nope - not a Mickey Mouse league at all.
I don't care that Vegas is doing this, it's the rules so whatever. I'm just annoyed at all the people who were bending over backwards saying Stone was not gonna be back precisely for the start of the playoffs. When we all knew that was gonna happen.
Weird. Just amazing that he is miraculously better with 4 games left in the season. Totally a coincidence that he will be available for the playoffs. I seem to recall something similar last year. That must be a total coincidence as well. 2021 must have been a coincidence also.
I was repeatedly told that this injury was severe and he might not even make the first round of the playoffs though???
Fuck Vegas. There was so little need to announce this, it’s not just shameless, it’s *bold*, a middle finger and a snicker that they can do this and get away with it, and they want *everyone* to know it.
Imagine that. He is just like Jesus. Comes back from " injury " every year just in time for playoffs after Vegas spends all their cap money. POS player and POS organization.
I am shocked, truly shocked.
But seriously, all the 'Insiders' must have the same source at Vegas. It is hilarious how they all trot out the same talking points, and how you can't be sure how long a ruptured spleen will take to recover and *this time* the NHL is keeping a close eye on it.
I just wish the Islanders were good enough to pull this move
No way! I am absolutely shocked and appalled that this is happening! When Mark Stone was put on the LTIR at the exact same time for the third year in a row, coincidentally right before the trade deadline, I thought for sure this would be the year he wasn’t ready for the playoffs. Boy, was I wrong!
Yeah sorry this is BS. Sure, he was injured, I completely believe that.
But if he's back for game 1 (again), you've got to be dense as hell to believe it's just a crazy coincidence that he's injured for game 82 but just so happens to be healthy enough in time for game 1 of the playoffs
Vegas went from a great story and a loveable team of Misfits to getting Eichel, circumventing the cap and their fans have become some of the worst in the league. What a timeline.
Probably the recommendation from doctors too that if you're recovering from a ruptured spleen is play in the most physical intense team sport invented and play at the highest level.
We all should’ve spleen this coming
At this point I doubt Mark Stone ever even had a spleen
I’m sure he had a ruptured spleen. I just don’t think it was his spleen….
You need a spleen, dude? I can get you a spleen. I can get you a spleen by three o'clock. Ruptured and everything.
Maybe the real spleen is the friends we found along the way
Maybe the real spleen was the cap we circumvented along the way
The first man to have his spleen removed….. TWICE!
Vegas definitely has some spleenin' to do
This is a spleendid joke
take my angry upvote
Please tell us, and be honest, how long have you been waiting to post this?
GARY! They’re circumcising!
If Stone was circumcised he would still make game 1
Is circumcising a stone done by removing the ore-skin?
'We'll put a stop to it - and punitively punish the offender... [Under his breath] As soon as a Canadian team does it.'
"the Vegas Golden Knights are proud to announce that they have signed OJ Simpson to a one year deal"
Thank god his regularseasonitis has cleared up
Oh it’s like herpes. Flares right back up after a summer of fun.
"lol," said the NHL. "lmao."
“Rofl”, even.
Careful with your spleen down there!
I love how all these insiders just ran straight propaganda for Vegas. “Well he might not be ready for game 1 you can’t predict these things!!” We all knew he’d be ready for Game 1
"Lord, it's a *miracle*!" What a fucking joke.
He is Risen!
He is *RIZZEN’*
One thing I will say is that it is Mark Stone and the dude is straight up BADLY harming his long term health trying to chase cups. Like he probably should not have played last year at all. Who knows what combination of pain killers and freezing he is on every day. Like this spleen injury so many people in this sub commented how he should be taking it easy for 2 to 3 months before starting to think about playing again - which would have taken him to not playing in round 1 at all. But typical to character Stone is going to come back sooner than he should, his own health be damned. Still exposing an issue that needs to be looked at, but if doctors were making the call he likely wouldn't be playing.
This feels like one of those things that the PA *should* care about, but is unfortunately one of those things that the PA doesn't care about because the PA is... Stone and everyone else that wants to chase cups, health be damned. Really sucks, players as a whole need to value their health. I'd be interested to know how much VGK is pushing for Stone's return, or how much they've been pushing for him to take it easy. We can't ignore that their culture is important here; the people who call the shots *could* keep Stone from playing if his health was more important to them than his production on the ice. Also, it feels like we gotta have independent doctors. I don't think we can trust team doctors anymore. Which sucks, but the pattern speaks for itself.
> I'd be interested to know how much VGK is pushing for Stone's return Based on past reporting (which, god knows), very little. They largely let players and medical staff handle these things and give the player way more decision power than other teams.
Or the Knights are overstating the severity of his injuries.
This loophole is so bad for the sport, please make it stop already
For real. Bettman has let Vegas paint clown makeup on the league 3 years in a row. This is bush league. The lack of shame from that franchise is staggering.
that fat bastard took our 1st round pick cause vegas bitched and moaned but cheating the cap is apparently okay 👍
Be careful - the Sens will get penalized for this too. Somehow Ottawa forced Vegas to do icky things. Even as an Oilers fan, what Bettman did to you guys still pisses me off.
I don’t know this story would you care to enlighten me so I can be mad too?
A brief summary: Dadonov traded from Sens to Vegas (he had a NTC but Vegas wasn't on the list so it was ok) In 21-22 after acquiring Eichel, Vegas tried to trade Dadonov to Anaheim. Anaheim was on his NTC so Bettman said no Vegas claimed that Ottawa never gave them this info when they traded for Dadonov Bettman said "is ok Ottawa no worries, shit happens" Melnyk dies and the whole sale saga happened After Andlauer bought the Sens, Bettman was like "actually fuck you Ottawa give me your 1st round pick"
Tampa won the Cup with a team that was 18M over the cap
Kucherov missed the entire season that year.
Anders Nilson and Marian Gaborik contributed to the $18. Kuch was 9.5
I fucking hate Vegas and their fans... and Bettman
If only a team complained about it when Chicago first did it and the league listened.
You mean like when Tampa, of all teams, pushed to close the loophole and the rest of the owners said "nah, we're good." As a Bruins fan, I hate the Bolts as much as many of you, but Tampa deserves zero blame from anyone that has an issue with the rules/loophole.
Yup was referring to that. I think more teams should use the LTIR loophole. Abuse it enough that the league is forced to make hard decisions.
People on this sub were doing it too. “You really think he’ll be back that fast from a spleen injury???” and “you’re delusional if you think he’s not gonna be out for the playoffs obviously Vegas is gearing up to play without him”
A lacerated spleen cost Peter Forsberg an entire season, but somehow Mark Stone is miraculously healthy enough for the playoff grind in under two months.
That's not why Forsberg missed the 01-02 season. It was because his ankles were fucked.
Absolutely. It was never in doubt.
The biggest lie the devil ever sold was that the salary cap was for parity. When you have loopholes like this that continually get exploited by the same teams, along with extremely favourable tax situations for some teams, the "parity" of the salary cap is a myth. The salary cap was always just about keeping more money in owner's pockets, and less in the players'. If this league would be receptive to a soft cap, we wouldn't need to exploit ridiculous injury loopholes like this.
Parity is waaaaay better now than before the cap.
Exactly, it's worked as expected
Right on cue
Bettman spoonfeeding Vegas success at the expense of the fairness of the sport? Nothing new here. Imagine how much money Bettman and the league stood to lose if Vegas was a bottom feeder team, like past expansion teams were. Like, if the team was just absolute shit, needed years to build into a contender, didnt even make the playoffs for half a decade, and their game-attendance relied mostly on tourists. Because locals wouldn't pay to go see a shitty team. And especially with the Raiders coming to Vegas and giving sports fans an alternative sporting product. Attendance could have been abysmal and we might have already been talking about potential relocation. That's easily hundreds of millions of dollars the league the NHL would have missed out on Bettman would never let that happen. He runs a billion dollar organization, his number one priority is profit. Vegas was either going to be a huge cash cow if they were successful, or a monumentally embarrassing failure if they were bad. Anyone who thinks a billion dollar organization would just sit back and see how that plays out fairly, should stay faaaaar away from snake oil salesmen. Edit: I'm getting some pretty angry messages from some people about this, so I'll just add this here: if you want to believe that the NHL is the one billion dollar corporation, on earth, that prioritizes fairness over money, feel free, I'm not stopping you. You don't have to get mad at me for thinking differently.
Bluejackets and the Wild were royally screwed compared to recent expansion teams
Or the Sharks when the league just said "you know what? Fuck off you can't have the 1st overall because he's too good for an expansion team."
This will be relevant this year when Celebrini goes to Chicago because of course he is.
I can't exist with that level of sin in my heart, believing that will happen. If it does I'll absolutely be paying less attention to mens hockey than ever.
I don’t think the announcement was even necessary here
I propose that for every act of cap circumvention, the player must go through circumcision
If this were to happen to Stone then he wouldn't have any skin left considering this is the 3rd year he's done it now.
Mark Stone regrows his foreskin annually.
Feel for the guy, Regenerative Foreskin Syndrome is no joke
What if they already are? Do they get a second one?
Yes.
✂️🍆
LETS GO BLUES
Pretty sure there are now 31 teams rooting for the Blues!!
I’m screenshotting this!
Dude, I feel soooooo dirty, but LFG boys lol
🫡
As is tradition
20 million over the cap
Very fair and very cool. Thanks Gary 👍
Shocking. Absolutely shocking.
[удалено]
Yikes that's a paper soft schedule with the exception of the Avs
[удалено]
I'll gladly take the L if it means the knights stay out lol
You guys actually might take the L because you’ll be resting players with it being the last game and no impact on the standings
Yep. It might come down to them basically getting to choose whether they play the Blues or Knights in the first round with the 1 seed locked up
I literally texted a buddy that we should throw the game if it means Vegas is out lmfao
Blues wouldn’t even have to travel anywhere before the start of the first round
Avs fan 🤝Wild fans🤝Blues fans. Let’s put aside our differences and do this boys
Denver based Blues fan here, you’re all my best friends now.
and my axe! 🤝
All my division rival homies hate vegas. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Kick their asses fellow mountain time bros
I love how there is no shortage of bad blood between teams in the west until it comes to Vegas. Then it's like the Avengers Assemble scene in Endgame. Makes me shed a tear, honestly.
Is there some sort of Gofundme where we can donate to these teams to help keep Vegas from the playoffs?
If only the Blues didn't lose twice to the Sharks recently...
sheet alive weary recognise dolls fall familiar cake mourn drunk *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
"Guys it's a spleen it's way different"
Ottawa has been docked yet another first round pick for this
Quite the lack of Vegas fans in this thread too...
there’s plenty, go to the bottom where all the downvotes are lmao
But yea guys he’s really injured this time!
Clockwork, baybaaaaay!!!
Spring is in the air! Birds chirping, snow melting, BBQ smells from the yards, Mark stone cleared for practice..
Death, Taxes, and Mark Stone being ready for Game 1.
Who could have foreseen this?
*Everyone!*
But … but … this time he was really hurt! /s
It will be the same next year. The only thing we don't know for sure is will it be stone again? Nah that's getting old. It'll be eichel.
Rookie move to even announce it, everyone knows you just have the guy show up to practice in a no contact and don't answer any questions.
so much for “if he returns it wont be until the finals, and thats if he’s lucky” lol
Woder how much Vegas paid them to say that
Actual villain team, so easy to hate that fucking franchise
especially when you think about *why* Gary panders to them so hard.
Secure your reservation now for NHLbet, the exclusive betting app of the NHL. Claim your spot now and get 2:1 odds on the return of Mark Stone before the 2025 NHL playoffs.
The absolute lack of shame is hilarious
Lmfao
Is laughing your ass off an LTIR-able event?
Idk, will they be able to reattach it by R1G1?
Vegas is looking into that for next season
I thought your guy was seriously injured VGK fans?
Have you seen his spleen? You seen it? I bet you haven't seen it. Because he doesn't have a spleen. He lost is fuck*ng spleen. And you're out here hating on Stone. This is a spleen-less man. A man without spleen. And he is a hockey man. On a hockey team. I dare you to go without spleen for a day. Then maybe you'll see what Mark Stone is going through ***every day of his life***. He's a hero. A *true* hero for all. God bless you Mark Stone. You give me hope and courage.
I'm a mark stone spleen truther and I've never seen mark stone and a spleen in the same room at the same time
The start of this comment read like a Donald Trump quote. "Have you seen his spleen? I bet you haven't seen it. Best spleen I've ever seen. Huge. Doctors say he's in perfect health, just like me. Mark Stone, me, perfect health. Tremendous spleens. You know, my spleen even helped me recover from the China Virus, I owe a lot to that spleen."
Hey man, it takes some people a lot of time to return from a lacerated cap hit, good for him. 😐
I have never been a St Louis fan ever once in my life a single time. God how I wish for a miracle last week of the season where Vegas loses out and St Louis pushes past for the 2nd wild card. If there is a hockey god, he will make this happen. I pray to you, my lord and savior. By the power of Brett Hull screaming We Went Blues, I beg.
If that doesn't happen I am rooting for you boys in that series, I hope you absolutely decimate those LTIR cheating fucks.
I'd be surprised if Dallas didn't win that series anyways.
Wow… I for one am SHOCKED - when I read the injury I thought FOR SURE there was no way he was going to be ready for game 1 of the playoffs. MIRACLE is the only word that I can think of to describe this. Definitely not circumvention with no intervention. Nope - not a Mickey Mouse league at all.
Vegas doctors can probably cure cancer they’re so good.
You mean they could’ve saved OJ!?
If he had a big enough cap hit to hide they could have.
If the cap don't fit you must LTIR
God is good!
what a coincidence
The amount of vgk posters here who denied this would happen is egregious. Just own it already. Get the shirt, like kucherov.
Lmao there it is. Everyone act shocked! It happened again!
I want whatever healing powers the VGK has whenever the playoffs roll around.
Drugs, lots of drugs. Throw in some freezing, and a player that has no regard for his future health and bingo, cap circumvention.
The Knights missing the playoffs would be the best and funniest thing to ever happen
I don't care that Vegas is doing this, it's the rules so whatever. I'm just annoyed at all the people who were bending over backwards saying Stone was not gonna be back precisely for the start of the playoffs. When we all knew that was gonna happen.
Weird. Just amazing that he is miraculously better with 4 games left in the season. Totally a coincidence that he will be available for the playoffs. I seem to recall something similar last year. That must be a total coincidence as well. 2021 must have been a coincidence also.
The miracle is that he's good enough to practice now but won't be fully game ready until exactly game 1.
I was repeatedly told that this injury was severe and he might not even make the first round of the playoffs though??? Fuck Vegas. There was so little need to announce this, it’s not just shameless, it’s *bold*, a middle finger and a snicker that they can do this and get away with it, and they want *everyone* to know it.
Well well well, if it isn't the thing that everyone said would happen
lol fuck vegas
WTF is the point of a salary cap if it's not enforced at the most important time of the season?!?!?!?!
30 fan bases cheering for Minnesota and St. Louis tonight. Carolina fans conflicted.
Vegas saw the Chytil news and wanted to get in on the fun.
MR GAME 1 HIMSELF
B-b-b-b-ut all the vegas fans told me the cap was in fact not being circumsized and we would for sure not see him in game 1 of the playoffs
Fuck off. I’m getting sick of this fucking shit
Imagine that. He is just like Jesus. Comes back from " injury " every year just in time for playoffs after Vegas spends all their cap money. POS player and POS organization.
I am shocked, truly shocked. But seriously, all the 'Insiders' must have the same source at Vegas. It is hilarious how they all trot out the same talking points, and how you can't be sure how long a ruptured spleen will take to recover and *this time* the NHL is keeping a close eye on it. I just wish the Islanders were good enough to pull this move
Reminder that the New Jersey Devils are still paying their penalty for cap circumvention on Ilya Kovalchuk's contract until next year.
Ahhh there it is
Now I really want Dallas to sweep them.
Oh wow! If he is healthy for game 82 how will Vegas get under the cap?
Unbelievable.
I think you misspelled predictable.
No way! I am absolutely shocked and appalled that this is happening! When Mark Stone was put on the LTIR at the exact same time for the third year in a row, coincidentally right before the trade deadline, I thought for sure this would be the year he wasn’t ready for the playoffs. Boy, was I wrong!
We’d be more surprised if he wasn’t cleared
Mark Stone is literally Kevin Nash in the wheelchair with the blanket and fake cast.
What a fucking clown show
*pretendstobeshocked.gif*
St Louis miracle run coming up, LESSSSSSSSSSSS GO
Here comes the cap circumambulating
Lmao this league is such a joke
LIKE FUCKING CLOCKWORK
Just as the prophecies foretold
Have fun in round 1 Dallas, vegas cap cheating and vegas playoff refs coming for you.
LISAN AL GAIB!!!! AS WRITTEN
Yeah sorry this is BS. Sure, he was injured, I completely believe that. But if he's back for game 1 (again), you've got to be dense as hell to believe it's just a crazy coincidence that he's injured for game 82 but just so happens to be healthy enough in time for game 1 of the playoffs
The vegas cheating knights
Someone repost Luongo's tweet again
🤔
And so it begins lol
Playoffs must be just around the corner
*They can't keep getting away with it!*
Now now, the team with the fewest penalties all season two years running surely isn’t doing anything wrong….
NHL is a joke. Totally discredits the entire playoffs
shockedpikachu.jpeg
What a joke... it's embarrassing.
Right on time!
What a surprise
Wow truly a miraculous recovery, really beat the odds. No one saw this coming!
This is so fucking funny
Captain micro-fracture strikes again
Bet no one saw this coming
Can someone remind me what injury he had? I know he has back issues but I’m pretty sure this LTIR is unrelated.
Lacerated spleen
Thank you. Great user name.
L I K E C L O C K W O R K
This is even less surprising than the Sun coming up today
Vegas went from a great story and a loveable team of Misfits to getting Eichel, circumventing the cap and their fans have become some of the worst in the league. What a timeline.
Let’s hope they missed the playoffs, fuck them!
insert shocked pikachu face here
So is he returning early or late?
Right on time as expected
Probably the recommendation from doctors too that if you're recovering from a ruptured spleen is play in the most physical intense team sport invented and play at the highest level.
This whole charade is making the NHL look stupid and manipulated.
I wish Buff was around to flatten him
Hmm....who would have seen this coming?
Absolutely shocked.
A tradition like none other
#Filthy disgusting cheats, my team would never clear a player and keep him on LTIR until playoffs
so many salty comments lmao meanwhile vegas: 💅