Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
Michael Stone is in the first year of a three-year, $10.5 million contract ($3.5M per) and it is already becoming a problem for the Calgary Flames.
Despite playing soft minutes vs lesser competition on a nightly basis, the 27-year-old has not been good for the Flames this season. Quite frankly, he’s been bad.
Offensively, he's been as inept as pretty much any defenseman in the league. In more than 800 minutes of 5v5 ice, he has tallied four points. Four. That equates to .30 points per hour, which ranks him 175th among 180 defenseman who have logged at least 500 minutes of ice this season.
Stone isn’t valued for his offense but you’d expect a player making that kind of money to be more efficient than the likes of Christian Folin, Greg Pateryn, Robert Bortuzzo, no?
His inability to contribute wouldn’t be a huge issue if he did other things to help the Flames, such as prevent easy entries or successfully move the puck out of the defensive zone and get play moving in the right direction. Unfortunately, he does not.
He ranks last among Flames blue liners – yes, even behind Matt Bartkowski – in possession exits and breakups per 60 and has been vastly out-performed by his partner, Brett Kulak, who is playing in his first full NHL season and making almost $3 million less.
Note: you can check out @CJTDevil's All-3-Zones tool here.
Unsurprisingly, his struggles preventing entries and breaking out have really hurt his underlying numbers.
He currently owns a Relative Goals For of -7.5%, a Relative Corsi For of -5.6%, and 13 of 14 teammates who have played 100+ minutes with Stone at 5v5 have seen their numbers decrease during that time. The lone exception is Troy Brouwer, because, of course.
Note: sorted from most minutes together (left) to least (right).
It’s clear Stone is a problem, so what’s the solution?
Trading him would be the ideal path to take. The Flames are really hurting in the draft pick department and veteran defenseman can *always* fetch you a mid-round pick or two at the deadline. The Boston Bruins recently parted with a 3rd round pick and a warm body in exchange for Nick Holden and I’m inclined to believe Stone could fetch a similar return, if not better.
Parting with Stone would also allow the Flames to give steady ice to Rasmus Andersson, who continues to excel playing big minutes for AHL Stockton and seems more than ready to make the jump.
There are, however, a couple problems with that idea.
First and foremost, I doubt GM Brad Treliving has much interest in moving Stone. He was not an analytics darling when Treliving acquired Stone. The same held true when Treliving committed $10.5 million to him.
It’s also worth mentioning Stone has a modified no-trade clause and can block a deal to 15 teams, which would limit Treliving’s options should he wish to pursue a trade prior to Monday’s deadline.
While that’s almost certainly the best route to take, it also, unfortunately, seems an unlikely one.
Recent posts:
The Flames were smart to re-sign Mikael Backlund
Gaudreau - Monahan - Ferland line has been one of league's best this season
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»