Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone’s wife is joining in on the controversy surrounding her husband’s timely return to the lineup. The team, fresh off winning last year’s Stanley Cup, are currently locked in a fierce battle with the Dallas Stars and will face each other again for Game 5 tonight in Texas. While Stone’s initial goal was significant during this series, his scoring output has been relatively quiet since then. However, his return to action reignited discussions about Vegas’ use of long-term injured reserve (LTIR), which helps them navigate the salary cap.
For the past two seasons, Stone would typically sustain injuries in February before being placed on LTIR; this provided valuable financial space for aggressive moves at trade deadlines. Both last season and this year, he returned to action just in time for the playoffs – a practice that is perfectly within the rules currently set forth by hockey’s governing body.
The thing about these postseason games is that they occur outside of the league’s traditional salary cap environment as such no one need abide strictly to said guidelines. Teams like Vegas, who employ this method for roster-building during the regular season – when adhering solely and absolutely within budget constraints makes strategic sense; do it!
The Tampa Bay Lightning also employed similar tactics throughout their Cup-winning years. However, as with any loophole in a system or rulebook, there are bound to be critics who point out what they see as inconsistencies or potential flaws – this is where Stone’s wife comes into the picture!
Hayley Stone shared an image online; one depicting herself wearing Winter Classic sweatshirt previously sported by her spouse while he was still with Vegas. However, there’s a notable difference: in place of Mark’s name on its customary position behind his back, Hayley has swapped it out for the acronym ‘LTIR’.
This is undoubtedly humorous content but would most likely fall flat when confronted by opponents and rival fans who find no joy or amusement whatsoever in such a scenario. Nonetheless, as things stand now, there’s nothing to suggest that Vegas are breaking any rules; it all comes down to whether the NHL decides to take action on this issue at some point further into their future planning meetings. However, until then we’ve witnessed just how beneficial deploying injured players is for teams in playoff situations – and as such, one can only assume other franchises will follow suit!
Leave a Reply