Golden Knights’ Stone receives hero’s welcome at airport after trade

Newest member of the Golden Knights, Mark Stone gets choked up talking about how hard this decision was for him, says he’s really excited going to Vegas, but was really hard to say goodbye to the Ottawa Senators organization, teammates and fans.

It was a whirlwind Monday for Mark Stone as the star winger was traded by the Ottawa Senators to the Vegas Golden Knights where he’ll begin the next chapter of his NHL career.

Stone has been in the Senators organization since the team selected him in the sixth round of the 2010 draft and was emotional after the deal was consummated, but his spirits were lifted when he received a hero’s welcome at the airport upon his arrival in Vegas.

The centrepiece of the most substantial deadline day deal was greeted by members of the team’s drumline and cheer team plus Chance the mascot.

The warm welcome wasn’t the only reason for Stone to smile. Not only did the 26-year-old go from the worst team in the league to one of the stronger Western Conference contenders, but Stone also agreed to an eight-year contract extension that will have an annual salary cap hit north of $9 million.

It’s an investment Golden Knights general manager George McPhee believes will be well worth it.

“If you take a good look at this player, he plays in every situation,” McPhee told Golden Knights writer Gordon Weigers. “He plays in overtime, plays in your power play, kills penalties, blocks shots, he’s big, he can protect a lead, he can help you tie a game up if necessary, he scores goals and…our analytics department has him as one of their favourites.”

Stone, who’s in the midst of a career year, is expected to make his Golden Knights debut Tuesday when they host the Dallas Stars.

“Stone is the here and now and he’s the future,” McPhee added. “I talked to him after the trade and it’s always comforting to get on the phone with a guy and see the character is there. Those kinds of people always seem to say and do the right thing. It oozes out of them and we’ve got another high character person and a real good player.”

[relatedlinks]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.