NHL Notebook: Golden Knights place Mark Stone on LTIR

On Thursday, the Vegas Golden Knights announced they have placed team captain Mark Stone on LTIR.

The 33-year-old forward is currently recovering from a wrist injury, exiting a contest against the Calgary Flames last Saturday shortly after scoring his second of the game. The injury appeared to have initially happened against the Boston Bruins two days before, when Stone went to the tunnel after falling awkwardly into the boards. He is now listed as week-to-week. Through six appearances this season, Stone has already tallied an impressive two goals and 11 assists, currently tied for second in the league with 13 points.

Stone has not played 70 games in a season since logging 71 on the year with the Ottawa Senators back in 2017. This is just the latest instance of the Winnipeg native being placed on LTIR, with accusations in the past that the Golden Knights were using that status for cap circumvention in the playoffs. Of course, that will prove more difficult now, with new rules requiring postseason lineups to be cap-compliant.

Could Kadri and Andersson be on the trading block?

Things are not off to a good start for the Calgary this season.

After a shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers in their season-opener, they are now on a seven-game losing skid, starting the year with a 1-6-1 record. Despite just narrowly missing the playoffs last season, if things don’t turn around soon, the Flames could quickly turn into sellers at this year’s deadline.

Appearing on TSN 1050 this week, hockey insider Chris Johnston shared that a source within the Flames said the team will be keeping their options open with regard to the possibility of trading their veteran players. With that in mind, two names to watch are Rasmus Andersson and Nazem Kadri.

Johnston shared on Overdrive Wednesday that Andersson’s camp is open to an eight-year extension with the Flames, but the team wants to see how the season plays out. Andersson is currently in the final year of a six-year agreement, with a cap hit of $4.55 million. At 28 years old, he could hold tremendous value for a team looking to bolster their blue line to round out the year, and help bring some picks or prospects back Calgary’s way.

Kadri, meanwhile, has three years remaining on his deal, with an annual cap hit of $7 million. However, he has a full no-movement clause on his contract this season, meaning he has a say over any trade. That reduces to a 13-team list starting next season. Despite his high cost for a 35-year-old, he brings a veteran presence and produced a career-high 35 goals last season.

More from around the hockey world:

• With a long-term contract and strong offensive talent surrounding him, Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin looks at why Jack Eichel is poised to have a career season this year
• The Anaheim Ducks are off to a hot start under new head coach Joel Quenneville, bringing a new approach to this young team