Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone (61) protests a call with an official during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C., on Jan. 25, 2022.

 Karl B DeBlaker/Associated Press

Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone has been dealing with a bad back all season. That's well known.

But at the risk of being accused of taking the easy punchline here, it's hard not to wonder right now if Stone's back has been tweaked from a plan to carry Jack Eichel's salary cap hit on it.

Eichel seems to be closing in on making his debut with Vegas, with ESPN pushing the theory it could be coming this week, but he can't play until the team figures out how to get his $10 million salary cap out of Long Term Injured Reserve and on to its books. Trades have been expected, but the Golden Knights are in win-now mode and not interested in parting with original players like Reilly Smith or All-Star Jonathan Marchessault if they can avoid it. 

Ever since the trade with the Sabres went down in November, this was a brewing issue. Some speculation had Vegas "pulling a Kucherov" and keeping Eichel out until the playoffs, when there is no cap and he could just step on the ice and play. The reference, of course, is to what Tampa Bay did last year with standout Nikita Kucherov, who missed the entire season on LTIR after hip surgery and walked right into the lineup – ultra coincidentally for the start of the playoffs – to lead the Lightning to a second straight Stanley Cup.

Tampa Bay thus had a cap in the $98 million to $99 million range for the postseason, far above the normal $81.5 million limit. Vegas isn't going to keep Eichel out until early May because a) he's almost ready to play now, b) he's only played 21 games in the last 23 months and needs work, and c) he needs to assimilate into a new team, unlike Kucherov's seamless return to a club he's been with for a decade.

So antennas around the league went up everywhere when Stone – who played in the All-Star Game last week – sat out Wednesday's 6-0 loss in Calgary and coach Peter DeBoer said it was a flareup of an injury that dates to October and has already cost Stone 20 games this season. DailyFaceoff.com immediately floated the theory that Vegas might be setting up the scenario where Stone and his $9.5 million cap hit could take a seat until the playoffs on LTIR and thus allow Vegas to activate Eichel.

An important caveat here: This is not against the rules of the CBA. What Tampa Bay did not was not circumvention and if Vegas does similar, it also will not be. But it's clearly against the spirit of what LTIR was meant for, which is to be able to replace injured players. It's not supposed to be a way to manipulate a roster and essentially get a much larger salary cap at your disposal.

It's a loophole that needs to be closed, albeit it's something that would need to be negotiated between the league and the NHLPA. What's the answer? Even though players are only paid for the regular season, the simple response would be to maintain the salary cap structure for the playoffs and make teams comply with the $81.5 million upper limit. 

Would Stone agree to "take one for the team" and sit out two months to be ready for the playoffs and faciliate Eichel's debut? Are Vegas' team doctors really going to say Stone needs weeks off and then suddenly clear him to play the first week of May? It was funny how Tampa's doctors suddenly said Kucherov was good to go, wasn't it?

It's shady dealings. To put a Vegas spin on things, it's counting cards at the blackjack table. But what can the NHL do about it? Doesn't appear to be anything the league can do but renegotiate this point in the CBA. Will be interesting to see what kind of carping comes from other GMs if this goes down.

How to fix Sabres' OT woes

If Sunday's game in Montreal goes overtime, will anybody win? The Sabres and Canadiens have the NHL's two worst records in 3-on-3 play at 1-7 and 0-7, respectively.

Buffalo dropped another one Thursday night to Columbus on Jakub Voracek's shot after 16 seconds and it was the fourth straight game the Sabres have lost past regulation, with none reaching a shootout. The issues are goaltending and faceoffs.

Buffalo netminders have combined for a .682 save percentage in overtime, stopping only 15 of 22 shots. Dustin Tokarski is at .600, stopping six of 10 and taking four of the defeats.

Puck possession and faceoffs have been equally brutal. The Sabres have won just 13 of 28 draws in the 11 extra sessions. They are 1 for 8 in the last four games and 0 for 5 in the last three.

The Sabres have given up a winning goal inside the first 35 seconds three times. Cue the jokes about both teams needing at least one possession in OT. Buffalo's strategy has to be win the opening faceoff and get the puck back to Rasmus Dahlin to start possession.

What should coach Don Granato do? Make a designated faceoff man out of Mark Jankowski (56.4% at even strength) or Cody Eakin (55.2%) at the start of OT. Win the draw and get off the ice, much like the Sabres used to do with Curtis Lazar taking draws and then giving way to Eichel.

You're just asking for trouble letting Dylan Cozens (42.6%) or Tage Thompson (42.0%) take that draw. Thompson lost it Thursday, then overplayed the puck at the Columbus line and that was that.

Media matters

It was encouraging to see the NHL use in-person access to players and coaches at the All-Star Game and not video calls, although it was odd at Media Day to have about 10 feet of social distancing between a player's podium and reporters in a hotel ballroom and then have no buffer zone for two days in T-Mobile Arena. Is there a pandemic or not?

We're coming up on two years being outside dressing rooms and Vegas is one of a few teams that remain video-call-only for access, which is overkill at a time when media must be vaccinated to get inside buildings and every player and coach in the league except Detroit's Tyler Bertuzzi is also vaccinated.

The Sabres have been largely ahead of the curve, utilizing conference-style availabilities in person and arranging some individual interviews. They've gone to video calls for road games where no media has been present in Canada because Covid rules are tighter.

The league's public stance has been it wants media access to revert to like it was during the 2019-20 season before the pandemic hit. Although I doubt we see that this year even in the playoffs, it really needs to happen come training camp in September. Relationships are not being built and too many stories are left untold without the ability to have dressing room conversations.

Sabre points

• With all the injuries his team has had, Sabres GM Kevyn Adams has made sure to closely monitor ice conditions at KeyBank Center. Players can be finicky and soft ice can be a red flag for muscle injuries. The league solicits player input on conditions at each arena and the GM said the ice crew in Buffalo regularly communicates with the hockey department to make sure there are no issues, so he's satisfied with his home rink.

"You have the the best players in the world, and you want to make sure that you have the best ice conditions in the world. Not just for health and safety, but for entertainment as well," Adams said. 

• The Sabres have led or been tied after two periods in 25 of their 46 games. They're only 13-6-6 in them. That's a lot of points left on the table. The Sabres' nine losses when leading after two periods (10-3-6) are by far the most in the league. Only Los Angeles (6) and Washington (5) have more than four -- and 23 of the NHL's 32 teams have three or fewer.

• You probably know the Sabres will set the NHL record for longest playoff drought this season once they miss the postseason for the 11th straight year. For the record, they are tied for the fourth-longest playoff drought in the four major sports.

MLB's Seattle Mariners, who last qualified in 2001 and narrowly missed a wild-card slot in October, are the leader after failing to qualify for the 20th straight season. The NBA's Sacramento Kings (2006) are next, followed by the New York Jets (2010), Philadelphia Phillies (2011) and Sabres (2011). No one else in any league has a drought longer than seven years.

Around the boards

• The Islanders finally go to the halfway mark of a disappointing season at 17-19-6 with Friday's 3-1 loss in Edmonton, a game that saw them come away mostly empty despite 38 shots on goal, and Saturday's 5-2 loss in Calgary. Their next game is Tuesday in KeyBank Center. Despite a big deficit in the wild-card standings, the Isles had hoped a huge edge in games in hand could be a playoff ticket but that's sliding away now.

New York is 17 points behind Boston for the final slot and now has only four games in hand -- when it once had eight -- so the task looks hopeless. Barring a huge winning streak in the second half, a season with Stanley Cup aspirations is going to end outside the playoffs.

And the Isles head to Buffalo with added worries after goalie Semyon Varlamov landed on the Covid-19 protocol list Saturday and was pulled from the dressing room just before taking the ice. He had participated in the pregame warmup. Not good. Huge lags in testing results continue in Canada and it's something the NHL simply hasn't solved this season.

• Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby is at 499 career goals and can become the 46th player to 500 if scores in Sunday's game at New Jersey. Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos is next on the list at 461.

Crosby's 24 goals vs. the Sabres are his second-most against an out-of-division team (he has 27 against Florida). But his 75 points in just 52 games against Buffalo are by far his most against anyone outside the Metropolitan Division.

• Alex Ovechkin had what for him rated a very meh season in last year's shortened campaign with 24 goals and 42 points in 45 games. In 47 games this year, Ovechkin has 29 goals and 59 points.

He's on pace for 49 goals and 101 points, which would be his first 100-point season since 2010 and are wild numbers for a 36-year-old. Sure seems energized by the chase to reach Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal record.

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