Mark Stone sidelined with concussion
It truly is the darkest timeline, my friends
The Ottawa Senators’ early season hopes just took a hit - forward Mark Stone has been sidelined with a concussion. Few details were released about the incident, simply that Stone had suffered the concussion during scrimmage at training camp on Friday, and that he would be evaluated on an ongoing basis.
It’s safe to say, this is the second-worst news the Sens could’ve had this early in the year. (The worst being a World Cup of Hockey-related injury to captain Erik Karlsson.) Stone is beyond a doubt the second-best player on this team, and a key cog in the team’s forward group. He’s led the team’s forward in points in his only two full NHL seasons, and was a finalist for the Calder Trophy in 2014-15.
Of course, we shouldn’t overreact this early. The team has a couple weeks until the season starts, and players often miss a few games each season. Still, having lost Clarke MacArthur to all but four games last season due to concussion trouble, it’s hard not to imagine the worst-case scenario. It sounds like the team is doing things right, and the good news is that as soon as Stone is cleared to play, he’ll be a solid contributor pretty much right away. Hopefully this is the last time in his career we have to talk about head trauma.
