HENDERSON, Nev. — Mark Stone expects to be ready to play in the Vegas Golden Knights’ season opener at the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 11 after having back surgery May 19.
“I feel really positive,” Stone said Thursday at the NHL North American Player Media Tour at Lifeguard Arena. “Do I know if I’m 100 percent yet? No, I don’t. But I feel great. But I won’t really know until I test it in training camp.
“I’ve been climbing a mountain all summer and I feel like I’m pretty close to the top.”
The 30-year-old forward was limited to 37 games last season, missing 12 games from Oct. 15 to Nov. 13 after being injured against the Kings on Oct. 14, and 26 games from Feb. 9 to April 9 after sustaining another injury against the Edmonton Oilers on Feb. 8.
Stone did manage to return down the stretch and had two points (one goal, one assist) in the final nine games of the season, but Vegas missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since entering the NHL in 2017-18, finishing third. points behind the Nashville Predators for the second wild card in the Western Conference.
Stone ended the season with 30 points (nine goals, 21 assists).
“I had an experience in LA, the second game of the season, I couldn’t move,” Stone said. “I had an experience before Christmas, I couldn’t move. The last game I played against Edmonton, I could barely get back on the bus. After the Edmonton one, I knew I couldn’t keep going like this.”
Stone underwent a lumbar discectomy to fix a disc in his lower back after experiencing nerve pain for the first time in his career.
“Three experiences were not fun,” Stone said. “Not being able to walk for that week after [the injury] happens is still sitting in the back of your head. But I think I got to a point where I knew that the only course of action was to get surgery, to get this thing repaired. So, that gives me kind of a relief knowing that it’s fixed and I should be able to continue on my career the way it was going before last year.”
Although Stone is confident about starting the season on time, there is still the question of when he will fully participate in training camp. Stone said he is scheduled to speak with his surgeon next week to get the go-ahead.
“Slow. Long. Boring, I guess,” Stone said of the recovery process. “We’re starting to get to the stage where you feel like yourself again. Just kind of makes you want to do that little bit extra to get fully healthy. It’s been a long process for sure, but I’m definitely on the right track to feel myself again, which I’m excited about.”
Stone, who is Golden Knights captain, has been skating with teammates for the past two or three weeks. He said he is feeling stronger every day physically but is still working on the mental side of his recovery.
“The mental hurdle’s the hardest, for sure,” Stone said. “Especially now, you’re always thinking: ‘Does this feel bad? Does that feel bad? Does this feel right? Does that feel right?’ But I think that’s gonna be my last obstacle. I fully believe that I’m healthy, but there’s days where you feel like it could be a zit on your head, it takes away thinking about your back. Just trying to get away from it. because I know that I’m healthy.”
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