Mark Stone has been traded in an absolutely blockbuster trade deal!

There were reportedly several teams in the mix in the final hour including the Boston Bruins, Las Vegas Golden Knights, Calgary Flames, Nashville Predators and perhaps even more but only one team could emerge as the winner.

According to a break news report from TSN Insider Bob McKenzie it now appears Ottawa Senators star forward Mark Stone has been traded in a deadline deal literally just minutes before time expired on the clock. The trade is still not official at this time but it appears that general manager George McPhee of the Las Vegas Golden Knights is the big winner here, finalizing what wiil without a doubt be one of the biggest deadline deals that we have seen in a while.

There's no question that this immediately makes them one of the most serious threats that any team is likely to face during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs but in spite of how good this trade looks right now, how they perform on the playoffs will likely determine how fans eventually feel about such a massive trade.

Obviously this will come as a massive disappointment for the fans in the Ottawa region but it is starting to sound like the Ottawa Senators are going to get a very good return out of this deal so don't be too quick to get depressed Senators fans there is some good news. The Ottawa Senators will not get a first round pick in this deal, at least not in the form of a draft pick, but they are getting arguably the hottest prospect in the Golden Knights system in the form of 19 year old defenseman Erik Brannstrom. Not to tease fans in Ottawa but Brannstrom has drawn legitimate comparisons to a young Erik Karlsson so you can easily see why the Ottawa Senators would be quick to jump on a player of this nature. Brannstrom is considered, at worst, a true A+ prospect and may be one of the top 5-10 prospects outside of the NHL at this time right now. 

Additionally on top of Brannstrom the Ottawa Senators are getting 27 year old center Oscar Lindbergh who will be an unrestricted free agent in a couple of months as well as a 2nd round draft pick from the Las Vegas Golden Knights. It's a pretty solid package for a player that was almost certainly going to walk away from the team at the end of the season and Bransstrom will be an excellent building block to place alongside other building blocks like Brady Tkachuk and Colin White.

Stay tuned for more details regarding the deal.