Vegas Golden Knights fans, look away. It appears that losing Mark Stone is much worse than everyone originally imagined. Ever since the Golden Knights' Captain left for his LTIR home, the Golden Knights' power play has been... absent.
We're talking about not scoring on your last six power play opportunities. In fact, the unit has mustered one shot, dating back to Monday's game. Yikes.
That's not to say the unit has been completely abysmal this season. Entering Saturday's slate, the Golden Knights were second in the NHL in power play percentage (32.1%). That followed the best power play campaign from last season, posting a percentage of 28.3 (second-best in the NHL).
However, Saturday's game showed what happens when you don't have your Captain on the ice. Add in a goal and seven assists and it's easy to see why Stone's presence is sorely needed.
But why is this unit suddenly hurting in recent weeks? Will it all change once he gets back? The answer (and solution) is much simpler than people realize. In fact, it could get Vegas back to dominating in man-advantage situations.
Why Mark Stone's absence hurts the Vegas Golden Knights' power play
First, you don't have a key man who set up brilliant scoring opportunities. The Golden Knights have reverted to their old style of passing back and forth without any resolution, leaving their opponents to poach the puck. In turn? It's led to unsuccessful power plays and Vegas stalling any momentum.
Stone was excellent at coordinating this. It didn't matter if it was finding Tomas Hertl up front or spotting Pavel Dorofeyev on the weak side. The Captain was brilliant at creating and facilitating. Now that this is temporarily gone, who takes on that role?
The simple answer would be Eichel. He's the franchise face and does everything needed to coordinate the attack. It could also be Theodore if he can create more rebounds while shooting.
Mysteriously, neither option has done anything in the past week. Teams have sniffed out Dorofeyev going to that weak side and they know Hertl's in the slot. So, what's a team like Vegas to do in the meantime?
The Golden Knights must lean on their big guns to thrive on the power play
Each power play piece has a specific purpose. For Eichel, he's the franchise face and guy who does it all. Hertl's the guy who gets in the slot and does the dirty work. Dorofeyev goes anywhere in the offensive zone to snipe shots. Theodore coordinates and sets up rebounds and scoring opportunities. Marner's great at facilitating and finding the best scoring opportunities.
Golden Knights fans can say that Marner should transition over to Stone's role and facilitate. That means stepping in and seeing what the opposing penalty kill throws at him. That's true, given that the newest addition only has a goal and an assist on the unit.
However, he can't do it alone. It takes everyone to make the Golden Knights' power play successful. That's why they broke the franchise record in 2024-25 and that's why can do it again. For Vegas, it should be the "next man up" mentality being used.