In a photo shared on social media, Mark's wife Haley Stone stood next to a fan who had ordered a custom made Vegas jersey with Stone's number and �LTIR' on the nameplate.
In the last three seasons, the Vegas Golden Knights have abused a clear loophole with the NHL's salary cap and injuries. Stone has been placed on injured reserve for the last three years just before the trade deadline, which allows Vegas to make significant trade deadline acquisitions and ice a playoff super team. Then Mark Stone becomes magically healthy for game one of the playoffs every year, and Vegas has a team $9M above the salary cap.
It's not a good look for the NHL to have a team clearly divert the intended effect of the salary cap, and even worse on the Golden Knights and Stone. It's just not believable that Stone isn't healthy enough to play game 82, but is fine to play game 1 - every single year. Plenty of fans have voiced their concerns on social media, and now a committed of NHL managers led by Ken Holland are actually looking at a rule change. At the end of the day though, it is still objectively funny to see Stone's wife get in on the jokes too.
POLL | ||
Do you think the Golden Knights are cheating the salary cap? | ||
Yes, it's ridiculous | 196 | 87.9 % |
No, it's within the rules | 24 | 10.8 % |
See Results | 3 | 1.3 % |
List of polls |