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| Photo: John Autey/Pioneer Press |
Stats
Minnesota (NHL): Regular Season-63 GP, 1 G, 4 A, 5 P, 84 PIM, 48 SOG
Playoffs-13 GP, 1 G, 2 A, 3 P, 26 PIM, 13 SOG
Review
At this time last year, Wild fans were not big on Clayton Stoner. Stoner had struggled all year and Wild fans had made him a scapegoat for the team's struggles. But that was last year. This year, Stoner came to the team and showed much more poise and confidence while manning the blue line for Minnesota (maybe killing that bear relaxed him). He had a decrease in points this year (10 points last year) while playing in more games, but you could clearly tell that Stoner had improved other aspects of his game. He was not as solid in the postseason, but more of that had to do with the opposition's speed. Not a great year for Stoner, but certainly an improvement from the 2012-13 season.
Highlights
Status for 2014-15
On July 1st, Stoner will become an unrestricted free agent. This past year he carried a $1.05 million cap hit. He will obviously be looking to get a multi-year contract, and a best guess for him would be around $1.5-2 million as a cap hit. He can be a decent third pairing defenseman, but nothing more. As for if the Wild will bring him back, that remains to be seen. It is possible that they could try to bring him back on a one to two year deal, but Stoner might try and find something more lucrative out on the free agent market.
Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell
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