Vegas announces critical update on Mark Stone

Well, this surely will go over well in National Hockey League circles!

The Vegas Golden Knights have been without the services of captain Mark Stone after he was placed on Long Term Injured Reserve; he suffered a lacerated spleen during a matchup against the Nashville Predators on February 20. In the meantime, the Golden Knights have loaded up once again with the acquisitions of Tomas Hertl from the San Jose Sharks and Noah Hanifin from the Calgary Flames.

But according to the latest update from the team, Stone has been cleared to practice, and will soon be hitting the ice, albeit in a non-contract jersey.

Well aware that his franchise would be accused of salary cap circumvention (again), Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon described the specific injury that Stone suffered.

"When he was injured I made my mind up that when we had media availability after the trade deadline we would share with the media and our fans what we can mark out as a very serious injury," Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon explained at the time.

"This is a different type of injury than what hockey players normally sustain. This is all about CT scans that determine the health of the spleen. It's impossible to know what the timeline is. I'm sure every single person in this room has Googled 'lacerated spleen' and you can tell that it's a bit of a tough one to pinpoint in terms of circulating the date."

The Golden Knights captain has scored 16 goals with 37 assists in the 56 games this season that he's been healthy enough to play in. But the timing of his return to action, much like last season, won't do anything to quell the protests of plenty of fans who feel that Vegas is guilty of salary cap circumvention.

Recommended articles:

Vegas announces critical update on Mark Stone

Ryan Reaves receives multi-game suspension from NHL Player Safety.

NHL Player Safety makes early announcement regarding Ryan Reaves.

Ryan Reaves ejected after destroying Darnell Nurse.