Ottawa Senators
Senators Throwback: Revisiting the Mark Stone Trade
More than five years have passed since the Ottawa Senators traded Mark Stone to the Vegas Golden Knights. Let’s take the time to revisit that trade.
February 25th, 2019 is a day Senators fans remember well. As the Ottawa Senators continued their rebuild, they made a monumental trade, sending Mark Stone to the Vegas Golden Knights. Pierre Dorion then had to face the media. Rewatching the press-conference, it’s clear how hard Dorion was trying to convince not only the fans and media, but perhaps himself that everything was okay. He listed a ton of prospects and veterans as key players going forward. So many of those guys ended up not being key players at all. Dorion was certainly on the defense with this press conference.
Flash forward to today, where Mark Stone is into his sixth full season with Vegas Golden Knights. It’s obvious not only who won the trade, but who made one of the greatest trades in their franchise’s history. Obviously Vegas doesn’t have a long history, but this is a trade that 50 years from now will still be seen as a “how the heck did we do that?!” type of deal for the Golden Knights. Let’s dive into the details.
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Mark Stone Wanted Out
Let’s go back to August 3rd, 2018. On that day, Mark Stone agreed to a new contract with the Senators. The problem being, it was just a one year deal. This would lead him to free agency the very next summer. It was at that moment that Sens fans had to deal with reality- Stone was likely to be gone before the end of that one year contract. He was setting himself up for a future with another team, and the one year deal was perfect- it essentially told the league, I’ll be a free agent next summer, but with the Senators in a rebuild, why not trade for me sooner?
To be clear, Mark Stone wanting out was completely reasonable. The Senators had become a laughing stock. They were coming off an awful season. Erik Karlsson was on the verge of being traded. They had traded away Kyle Turris, giving up a first round pick in the process. That ended up being an extremely high pick since the Senators fell apart so quickly. The player they landed in return for Turris was Matt Duchene, who was also approaching free agency and wanted to play for a contender.
There were also a ton of problems in house- from the locker room drama to ownership issues. Sens fans know about these issues all too well. The point being, Stone wanting out was sad, but not surprising. Whether Pierre Dorion actually tried to convince Stone to stay long term after signing the one year contract or not, it was obvious to everyone in the hockey world that Stone would be a highly regarded trade chip as that next season went along.
Fair Value for Sellers that Year
As the 2019 trade deadline approached, the best forwards available were Matt Duchene, Mark Stone, and Kevin Hayes. Here were the returns for the other two players:
On February 22nd, Duchene was traded to Columbus, along with Julius Bergman, for Jonathan Davidsson, Vitaly Abramov, a 2019 first-round pick and a conditional first-round pick in the 2020 draft (if Duchene re-signed in Columbus)
On trade deadline day, Kevin Hayes went from the New York Rangers to the Winnipeg Jets for Brendan Lemieux, a 2019 first-round pick, and a 2022 conditional fourth-round pick.
In both cases, the selling teams received pretty standard returns: first round pick, young player/prospect with upside, and a little extra.
There was another trade that excited Sens fans as far as setting the standard for a “seller’s market”. That was Ryan Dzingel going to the Blue Jackets for two 2nd round picks and Anthony Duclair. All in all, there was nothing to suggest the Senators were going to end up with a massive haul, or a horrible one, when trading Mark Stone. You could argue that Pierre Dorion waited too long to make the trade, eliminating some of the teams that had settled for other trades, but it’s hard to know the ins and outs of what went on without receiving the inside scoop from Dorion himself (sorry, no inside scoop forthcoming).
The Return
Mark Stone ended up being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights as the trade deadline neared its end. Here was the return:
Erik Brannstrom, Oscar Lindberg, 2020 2nd round pick (Tobias Lindberg also headed to Vegas)
Initial Thoughts
My recollection of this day was that Brannstrom was the first name that insiders mentioned as part of the return. That set up the rest of the trade a disappointment, because a lot of fans were initially thinking, “wow, we got Brannstrom, and more?” The “more” was hopefully going to be a first round pick, or something of that value. Instead, this was the Spezza trade all over again, where fans were left thinking, “we didn’t even get a first round pick in this trade?” There was a comparable trade made by Vegas the summer leading into that season that the Golden Knights may have used to convince Ottawa that they shouldn’t have to give up a first:
Max Pacioretty was traded from Montreal to Vegas for Tomas Tatar, Nick Suzuki and a second round pick in the 2019 draft
Don’t forget, Tatar was seen as a cap dump at that time, having really struggled during his time in Vegas. In Ottawa’s case, Lindberg was the cap dump. To be fair, Tatar, while more expensive, obviously had more potential for success given his past production with Detroit. Suzuki, meanwhile, was selected 13th overall in the 2017 draft. Brannstrom was picked 15th in that same draft. Suzuki has become the captain of the Canadiens. As for Brannstrom…
Look, there’s no doubt Brannstrom was a very exciting prospect. Only receiving a second round pick was frustrating, especially with Stone signing long term with Vegas right after being traded there. Essentially, Pierre Dorion and the Senators put their full trust in Erik Brannstrom becoming a big time player for them.
By the Numbers
Here are the numbers for the players that were involved in the trade:
To Vegas:
Mark Stone: 281 games, 92 goals, 268 points.
Tobias Lindberg: Never played in the NHL
To Ottawa:
Erik Brannstrom: 266 games, 7 goals, 69 points
Egor Sokolov (selected with the second round pick): 12 games, 1 goal, 2 points
Oscar Lindberg: 20 games, 5 goals, 8 points
Analyzing the Trade
Well, at least the Senators won the Lindberg part of the deal. The rest of the trade was a complete disaster. To go along with those numbers, Stone captained Vegas to a Stanley Cup. His biggest problem has been his health, but even then, Vegas creatively takes advantage and ends up with completely loaded playoff rosters. His 32 goals and 64 points with Vegas in the playoffs would both rank second most by a Senator ever, behind Alfredsson’s 51 goals and 100 points. When he’s on the ice, he’s one of the premier two way forwards in hockey. Sokolov, meanwhile, couldn’t stick at the NHL level. His skating was always an issue. He was very good at the AHL level, but could never make the leap of being an NHL regular.
Brannstrom Never Met the Hype
As for Brannstrom, he never lived up to expectations. And really, how could he? He was traded for fan favourite Mark Stone. He was also labelled as a smaller, Swedish, puck moving defenseman. Comparisons were obviously going to be made to Erik Karlsson. Dorion really hyped him up, using a baseball term by calling him a five-tool player, and saying “his presence on the ice is electric” during his post-trade press conference.
I never questioned Brannstrom’s compete level, and he handled himself well whenever he had to step into a bigger role for Ottawa because of injuries. His normal role, though, was a bottom pairing defenseman. He worked hard, but clearly didn’t have the size, strength, or physicality ideal for that role. As a puck-mover, his moments of “wow” didn’t come about nearly enough. His creativity wasn’t close to the top level offensive-defenseman in the NHL. It was interesting that Dorion was in the process of building a big, strong team and then decided to lean on an undersized defenseman like Brannstrom in such an important trade. Perhaps if he went after the big d-man prospect in Vegas, Nicolas Hague, things could’ve worked out better.
With Sokolov and Brannstrom no longer with the Senators this season, it’s abundantly clear how awful this trade worked out. The main problem of course, was the poor management and ownership leading the way for the Senators during this time. The Senators were a disaster on and off the ice, and Vegas took advantage in a big way. In the end, Stone will join the likes of Zdeno Chara and Marian Hossa as star players who will be recognized more for their play elsewhere, as opposed to being long-term Ottawa Senators, as many fans would’ve hoped.
Kassandra Schimmel
November 3, 2024 at 10:01 pm
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