Mark Stone gets booed so loudly that he can't answer reporter question

PUBLICATION

Liam McCormick
April 23, 2024 (9:52 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

When Mark Stone went on injured reserve and Vegas made huge additions to their team, every NHL fan could see Vegas dodging the salary cap rules. In his playoff debut, Stone heard back from some tucked off fans.

In a post game interview with Leah Hextall after Vegas' game one win over the Dallas Stars, Stone was booed so loudly that he couldn't hear the questions.

Hextall: «They're just loving you right now right here! But for yourself, first game back in 26, conditioning was going to be an issue, is it at all?»
Stone: «What's that, sorry?»

Stone seemed to be taking a moment and playing the role of the villain by basking in the boos from Stars fans after taking away home ice advantage. In his first game back with the Knights, Stone made an impact right away, scoring the team's first goal and not looking like he missed a beat despite sitting out with injury.

Quite frankly, Stone and the Vegas Golden Knights deserve these boos. It's ridiculous that the team has so blatantly taken advantage of the LTIR salary rules to ice super teams in the playoffs with absolutely no penalty. How is it believable that Stone couldn't play in game 82 but could appear in game 1 of the playoffs? Vegas was confident enough that he'd be out long enough to add $9M in salary through trade, and it looks more and more likely that Stone's injury wasn't really even legitimate.

With their super team fully assembled and Mark Stone back with the team, the Vegas Golden Knights are a forced to be reckoned with as they look to defend their Stanley Cup from last season. Perhaps this time, the Oilers will slay the dragon and be the ones to eliminate them in the second round.

POLL
Do you think that Mark Stone had a legitimate injury?
Yes, he's playing hurt right now	40	6.2 %
Yes, but Vegas cheated his recovery time	277	42.8 %
No, they made something up	304	47 %
See Results	26	4 %
List of polls