Hockey One of the world’s most expressive players is also the NHL’s greedy puck pirate – Mark Stone sabotages his own practice to excel in games

When The goal of the Vegas Golden Knights team is to take care of their teammates Mark Stonen around.

Star striker Stone, 29, ventilates the success of his team with the kind of enthusiasm that is often seen in the World Cup often, but rarely among the NHL players who make millions.

Last week, Stone scored a tie for the Golden Knights in a match against Dallas Stars. Defender Alex Pietrangelo laughed after the match that Stone’s strong overhangs almost broke his wrist.

“It’s crazy. I’ve never seen anyone get so excited, ”Pietrangelo chuckled according to The Las Vegas Sun.

From the beginning of the season Stone, who lost matches due to injury, has already reached the score line in eight matches. In the aforementioned Stars game, Stone scored a total of three power points and led the Golden Knights to victory.

“He’s our captain for a reason,” praised the radar couple Max Pacioretty.

The NHL’s second newest expansion team has proven to be a success in Las Vegas, but also beyond. Although it is a team game, Captain Stone in particular is the heart and soul of the Golden Knights and thus also the biggest favorite of the fans.

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Stone creates attacks by defending. He is the most active discus thrower in the entire NHL who has played at least ten matches.

Stone is constantly involved in the events of the matches with his expressions and gestures stronger than any of his colleagues, although outside the troughs he is calm as a person and thoughtful in his words.

“Playing in the NHL is amazing. Scoring and winning is fun, so why not show it too, ”Stone said in a popular In the Spittin ‘Chiclets podcast.

In the playoffs, Vegas has been a resounding success. Not surprisingly, the playoff underpower goal against Minnesota last season, for example, got Stone completely out of his mind.

Younger Stone was no child star. Ottawa Senators only booked him in the summer of 2010 for the sixth round.

The breakthrough came only immediately after booking. Stone played in the WHL Junior League two through over a hundred power points, and also rose to the Canadian Youth World Cup team. The group that reached Bronze played, among other things Jonathan Huberdeau and Mark Scheifele, but the best scorer was still Stone.

The first two professional terms were spent mainly in the AHL Farm League, but in the 2014-2015 season, Stone was the NHL’s best newcomer and lost only the Florida defender to the Calder Award vote. Aaron Ekbladille.

In Stone’s third season, the Senators only dropped out of the sequel in the second round of the seventh match of the Eastern Finals. Only a few years later, however, the success team had fallen into the hands.

Eventually, Stone, who also refused the extension agreement, was traded to Vegas in the spring of 2019. He immediately signed an eight-year contract with his new team, with an average salary of $ 9.5 million (€ 8.4 million) per season.

Stone creates attacks by defending. He is the most active discus thrower in the entire NHL who has played at least ten matches.

For every 60 minutes of play, Stone has taken the puck 6.1 times from his opponent, which is almost two exploits more than the next name in the stats.

The Finns have also excelled in discards. Last year’s Selke winner Alexander Barkov is third with 4.2 exploitation, and Florida ‘s second Finnish center Anton Lundell fifth with an average exploitation of 3.9.

Stone “robs” the puck from opponents with active racket defense and strength in dueling, but he also reads the game excellently, being able to cut feeds or take a game tool from an unsuspecting opponent at times, even with childish ease.

In recent years, Stone has been among the top names in the Selke Award for Best Defensive Striker. This makes him a real rarity when it comes to competition from center strikers almost without exception.

Of the winger, Selken has only won this millennium Jere Lehtinen. The Dallas Stars legend was awarded the prize three times during his career.

Stonen the tool used is strange. He spins his racket into a thicker lump than most goalkeepers.

Special tapes and related routines are by no means unique in the NHL. Instead, one of Stone’s traditions is very rare: he uses a different racket in exercises and games.

Stone’s play and practice rackets differ in both their stage and length. He told The Athleticille having used various clubs for most of his NHL career.

In matches, Stone plays with the club that suits him best. The exercises use a slightly too curved shoulder to drive himself into an area of ​​discomfort.

“My hands feel better in games because of that,” Stone reasoned.

Teammate Shea Theodore he laughed at the strangest thing ever, but on the other hand, he also understood the idea.

“When you switch back to a normal racket, it might feel amazingly good,” Theodore speculated for The Athletic.