Miro got "Stoned"

Don't be fooled by excuses or rhetoric - Mark Stone knows exactly what he's doing. And by the way - where was the 5 and review?

Vegas Captain Mark Stone smirking after taking out Dallas’ Miro Heiskanen

“It’s our job to cheat… and it’s their job to catch us…”

- Pat Verbeek (500 goals, 1000 pts, 3000 PIMS)

Start with this. I was in Dallas for the Stars - Golden Knights playoff game in 2023, where Stars’ Captain Jamie Benn did the most stupid thing I’ve ever seen in Dallas Stars playoff history. And that’s saying something. That play - by the Stars Captain - cost them whatever shot they had at a Cup that year.

Benn, after getting his wires crossed (again) sat on Mark Stone and delivered a viscous and stupid crosscheck to his head. I was in the suite with Dallas people who were booing the call.

I said - y’all are nuts. This will be 5 and a game and a suspension. They thought I was crazy. Benn also should have spoken with the media. That was an organizational failure.

The point of this prologue is - despite working for the club for 25 years, I’m not a homer. And now - I don’t have to cover for anyone. I call balls and strikes. I call it with the eye of someone who has been around this for 30 years. Benn screwed up. I might have looked to move him after that. And I love Jamie, but that’s inexcusable given the stakes.

But now - it’s time to callout Mark Stone

Stars fans hate him of course - the way you would any effective and troublesome player from the other side. But Stone is a good player. A really good player. He’s got skill, he’s tough, and is a huge part of the success Vegas enjoys.

He’s smart. He’s been around. He knows which opposing players to hunt - within the rules or outside of them. He knows how to make it look good.

He’s also a dickhead.

And last night on the Las Vegas Strip, he took out a huge piece for the Stars. Huge. Like series swinging. Like… it’s bad. And I haven’t seen the injury report yet - but his looks really serious.

Few should argue that he didn’t know it was Miro. I would think that reasonable Vegas fans would agree with that. He knew it was Miro. 1000 percent.

Stone says he was tripped by Roope Hintz, but reviewing the video is like watching the Zapruder film; everyone seeing what they want to see but nothing is clear or definitive.

I’ll speak briefly about my forensic examination of the video in question, but this is as much about the “who” as the “what”.

And while we’re at it - F!!! THE NHL. I mean - WTF??? It’s Miro Heiskanen in a heap. It’s Mark Stone the guy who felled him. That alone should trigger the 5 and review. And even if it’s anybody else in either spot - where’s the 5 and the review???

This is a league that doesn’t really give a shit about protecting it’s Stars (read my SubStack - “The Connor McDavid Problem and why the NHL doesn’t care” on my site here - but this little tweak - the 5 and review helps.) Last night, the officials put the whistles in their pockets, looked aside, and dispensed (probably incorrectly - the rarely whistled “clipping” penalty was probably a better call - but that’s neither here nor there) a 2 minute tripping minor.

I had a former NHL GM tell me that after calling the NHL about one of his players getting taken out by a dirty play that resulted in injury the day after the game, and asked for a review - the NHL Exec said - “oh - you want me to go back and look at what your guys have done every game this year?”

That actually happened - nothing was reviewed. This pathology still exists in spades in the NHL.

We know the “why” - but let’s look at the “how”, “the player”, and the NHL’s continued apathy about protecting their most lucrative assets. 4 Nations is a disaster waiting to happen - that should give you some insight as to where their heads continue to be.