Just as pretty much everyone predicted, with three game left to go in the regular season, Mark Stone, captain of the Vegas Golden Knights, has been cleared to return to practice with his team. However, he's not completely ready to return to action yet.
The Golden Knights have absolutely no cap room to bring Stone back into the lineup right now, unless $9.5 million in salary can be moved elsewhere. But, of course, the cap doesn't come into play during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The team also added Tomas Hertl from the San Jose Sharks at the trade deadline. He was injured at the time, but has since returned and has played two games with the team.
Vegas has been slapped with a reputation for having high salary players return in the post season from injury when it makes no difference to the salary cap. The team has denied using the tactic as a way to circumvent the rules. However, many fans aren't so sure.
POLL | ||
12 AVRIL | 149 ANSWERS Mark Stone cleared to return to practice with the Vegas Golden Knights Do you expect Stone to be ready for game 1 of the playoffs? | ||
Yes | 136 | 91.3 % |
No | 10 | 6.7 % |
Not sure | 3 | 2 % |
List of polls |