<p>LAS VEGAS –&nbsp;Mark Stone is about as subtle as his last name.</p>



<p>Ask the Vegas Golden Knights captain what he thinks about X or Y, and he’ll fearlessly empty his thoughts on the table, provocative as they may be. That was the case a few weeks ago when, at the NHL Player Media Tour, he fielded some questions on his team’s constantly changing roster.</p>



<p>On new top-six winger and soon-to-be iron man streak holder Phil Kessel:</p>



<p>“When I first saw him, I was expecting him to be 300 pounds, overweight, and he’s the furthest thing from it,” Stone said. “This guy can throw weight around in the gym. He’s one of the underrated strong guys I’ve ever seen. He’s been unreal. Brings a great dynamic to the locker room. Still skates like the wind, still snaps the puck as hard as I’ve seen, so I’m excited for him.”</p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="148"></div>



<p>On star center Jack Eichel, who joined the Golden Knights in the middle of last season following a blockbuster trade and recovery from disk replacement surgery:</p>



<p>“I’d never met him –&nbsp;definitely thought he was a bad guy from all the reports, and it couldn’t be further from the truth,” Stone said. “This guy works harder than anyone, wants to win more than anyone and just wants to be part of a team that has success. There’s a lot of false narratives out there about this guy. I think he’s going to have a big-time year for us.”</p>



<p>Thank you, Mr. Stone. He doesn’t exactly have a delicate touch with his words, but it probably suits him perfectly to his job. Stone, 30, leads the NHL’s most ruthless, no-nonsense franchise. If you stand in the way of the Golden Knights’ crazed pursuit of the Stanley Cup? You’re getting driven out to the desert like Joe Pesci at the end of <em>Casino</em>.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="160"></div>



<p>Beloved dressing room presence? Sorry, Nate Schmidt and Paul Stastny. We wanted Alex Pietrangelo in 2020 free agency. Vezina Trophy winner? Good for you, Marc-Andre Fleury, but we’re maxed out at the salary cap and we want to trade for Eichel, so you’re off to Chicago for nothing. No-trade clause? Don’t care, Evgenii Dadonov, we want you to waive it. First-line left winger? That’s nice, Max Pacioretty, but we’re up against the cap again, so you’re outta here.</p>



<p>So for players like Stone, part of this singular team culture, it’s almost like there isn’t time for pleasantries and subtlety. The Golden Knights have sent the message that they want their livestock, a.k.a. players, to win <em>or else</em>. It’s almost as if they cursed themselves with that run to the Stanley Cup final in 2017-18, their inaugural season, because it created an insatiable hunger for success at any cost, including the mortgaging of key depth players and prospects drafted in the first round.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="162"></div>



<p>But for Stone and Eichel, who came from losing situations via trade? They embrace that culture.</p>



<p>“We expect change every year,” Stone said in September. “Salary cap hasn’t moved in two years and we’ve spent to the cap, so you can’t complain about that. I’ve been on teams that don’t spend to the cap and you wish you did. So I’m never going to complain about a team that spends to the cap and comes to win.”</p>



<p>“It’s great –&nbsp; that’s what you want as a player,” Eichel said. “You want a team that wants to win every year and has the highest of expectations, and that’s obviously how it is here, so I feel very fortunate to be a part of it.”</p>



<p>Like Stone, Eichel is one of the only players we can bank on to “be a part of it” in Vegas for the long term. He’s signed for four more seasons, including this one, at a $10 million AAV. And he still yearns for real, high-stakes NHL competition. At 409 career games without a single playoff appearance, he’s a safe distance from Ron Hainsey’s NHL record drought of 907, but Eichel, 25, now has seven seasons in the books without a ticket to the big dance.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="209"></div>



<p>Last season, on paper, was supposed to break the streak for him. He was traded to an elite Stanley Cup contender in the Golden Knights, after all. His disk replacement surgery was successful enough to get him back into NHL duty by Feb. 16. It was the first such procedure in NHL history, one the Buffalo Sabres weren’t willing to permit but that the Golden Knights were glad to, and he set a precedent for other players.</p>



<p>“Johnson had it, Joel Farabee had it, so I think I did, yeah, because a year ago nobody had it, now all of a sudden three guys have had it,” Eichel said. “It’s a more common injury than you think, and it’s a good way to resolve that injury, so I’m glad guys have had an opportunity to do it.”</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="4" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="137"></div>



<p>There was just one problem when Eichel debuted in Vegas: he rejoined a graveyard of a roster. Stone was in and out of the lineup with chronic back problems. Pacioretty couldn’t stay healthy. Starting goaltender Robin Lehner dealt with multiple major injuries. The Golden Knights were pretty much never at full strength, and the perpetually depleted lineup put Eichel back in a situation resembling the one he wanted to escape in Buffalo.</p>



<p>“He came into the lineup and then four or five of us left the lineup,” Stone said. “So in Buffalo, all the pressure was on him, and when he came here it wasn’t supposed to be all on him, and then it <em>was</em> all on him (laughs). I think it was tough for him, but we’re excited to have the whole group back together.”</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="5" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="136"></div>



<p>Ahem, not quite the whole group. Pacioretty and Dadonov were traded in the offseason, while Lehner had hip surgery that will shelf him for all of 2022-23. But you get Stone’s point. The Golden Knights believe last season, their first without a playoff berth in their five-year history, didn’t reflect who they truly are. They have most of their core ready to go, including Stone, who insists he’s back to normal after offseason back surgery. They have a new head coach in Bruce Cassidy, plucked just days after the Boston Bruins fired him, and Eichel commends Cassidy’s intelligence and ability to read games and make adjustments.</p>



<p>From where the rest of us sit? This group got worse on paper and still might be headed for comeuppance after making one too many monkey’s paw transactions over the past half decade, hurting their future for their short term pursuit of power.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="6" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="149"></div>



<p>But for Eichel and Stone? What they see is a team that will do anything to win. And that’s precisely what they want.</p>



<p>_____</p>



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