The Golden Knights have taken Mark Stone off the board before he could ever reach free agency. Vegas announced a two-year, $18 million extension for its captain, keeping the winger in place beyond next summer.
Stone, 34, has now spent parts of seven seasons with the Golden Knights after arriving from Ottawa late in the 2018-19 season. That deal has aged well for Vegas. When he’s been on the ice, Stone has looked every bit like a top-line winger, while the Senators’ return package has largely disappeared from the league - three players now out of hockey, along with defenseman Erik Brannstrom and forwards Oscar Lindberg and Egor Sokolov.
In 400 games with Vegas since the trade, Stone has produced 396 points. The one constant has been the health battle.
He has never played more than 66 games in a season for the Golden Knights, with lingering back problems that led to multiple surgeries, a ruptured spleen, and more recent upper- and lower-body injuries last season. Vegas has leaned on LTIR with Stone multiple times, though that loophole has since been narrowed by the requirement for cap-compliant playoff lineups.
Even with the injury history, the production still jumps off the page. Point-per-game two-way forwards don’t come cheap, and Stone just turned in his best season in that regard, scoring 28 goals and adding 45 assists in 60 games.
His 73 points matched the career high he set in 2018-19, though that season took him 77 games to get there. In the playoffs, he posted 12 points in 17 games before a lower-body injury in the second round slowed him down and forced him to miss time in that series and the Western Conference Final.
He also played for Canada at the Winter Olympics and recorded four points.
The new contract is a modest haircut from the one he’s on now. Stone will carry a $9.5 million cap hit this season, and while his current deal includes a no-move clause, that part of the new agreement has not been confirmed.
Still, it would be a surprise if Vegas didn’t build in the same kind of protection after Stone left money on the table. Had he reached the open market next summer, he almost certainly would have drawn a bigger number and ranked among the top names available.
Instead, he stays with the team where he’s already won a Stanley Cup in 2023 and with an organization that has shown it’s willing to manage his workload carefully. The expectation on both sides is clear: not more games, necessarily, but the right games - with the goal of having Stone healthy when the playoffs arrive or when Vegas is pushing late in the season.
With Stone locked up, the Golden Knights now sit at $91.975 million in commitments for the 2027-28 season to 16 players, according to PuckPedia. They still have some notable pending unrestricted free agents to address, led by center William Karlsson, defenseman Parker Wotherspoon, and goaltender Carter Hart.
In Other News...
Golden Knights Just Secured Their Captain For Another Cup Push
The Golden Knights have taken another important step in keeping their core intact, agreeing to a two-year extension with captain Mark Stone. Coming off a season in which he was one of the teams most reliable producers and a central figure in Vegas push to the Stanley Cup Final, Stones new deal gives the organization some needed stability as it continues to build around a familiar leadership group.
Stones value goes well beyond the box score, but his production still underscored how important he remains to the lineup. After a career season last year, the captain has become one of the clearest anchors on a roster that has also seen recent movement with Braeden Bowmans new contract, and the next question is how Vegas continues shaping the rest of its Cup-caliber core around him. [Read more 🡒]
Golden Knights Face Huge Pressure As This Core Tries One More Run
The Golden Knights are heading into the 2026-27 season with the sort of pressure that comes only when a franchise believes it is still built to win now. Expectations around Vegas are back in familiar territory, with a Stanley Cup appearance the standard rather than the dream, and the core of Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner and Mark Stone carrying most of the burden. The roster also has an older feel to it, which only raises the stakes for a group trying to squeeze one more deep run out of a window that has already produced one championship.
There is still enough uncertainty around the edges to make this a delicate season in advance, even before the games start. A first-time head coach will be stepping into one of the leagues most scrutinized jobs, and the roster could still be reshaped before opening night. For Vegas, the challenge is less about chasing a playoff berth and more about proving this version of the team can still live up to the standard it set for itself from the beginning. [Read more 🡒]
Golden Knights Rookie Camp Starts Sorting Out Vegas Next NHL Help
Rookie camp gave the Golden Knights their first close look at a group of 23 prospects on the ice together, with Henderson Silver Knights coach Joel Ward running the session as Vegas began sorting through its next wave of NHL help. The roster mixes recent draft picks with players who have already logged some professional experience, and the early work is as much about learning the organizations pace and habits as it is about making an impression.
Trevor Connelly and Noel Pakarinen were among the players talking through their goals and the jump ahead, a reminder that this part of September is about both opportunity and evaluation. The camp now moves to San Jose for games against Utah and Colorado before the group comes back to Vegas for main training camp, where the real competition for spots will start to sharpen. [Read more 🡒]