Logan Stanley – An old school player in the modern era
Ahead of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, the reborn Winnipeg Jets franchise had been back on Canadian soil for five seasons. The Paul Maurice-era had started off as promising – the veteran coach was hired in January of 2014 – with the new Jets making the playoffs for the very first time in the 2014-15 season. It didn’t matter all that much that the Anaheim Ducks swept the team in the first round, playoff hockey was back in Winnipeg and the future looked bright.
Then came the 2015-16 season with its 35-39-8 record and 79 points, which set the stage for an important draft during the summer of 2016. The pressure was on general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff to establish that the disappointing encore to the Jets encouraging playoff appearance wasn’t the step back it looked like, nor a sign of things to come.
Simply put, the Winnipeg Jets needed to show their fans that they were still on the right track.
The fact that they had two picks (2nd, 22nd) in the first round of the draft gave them just the opportunity to do so. It is well recorded how the 2nd overall pick turned into Finnish sniper Patrik Laine but the Jets continued to make every effort to improve their franchise on that day. This included trading up from the 22nd pick to 18th overall in order to select defenseman Logan Stanley, a powerful 6’7, 225 lbs defensive defender from Canada. The Jets were worried Stanley – their primary target once Laine had been selected – would be gone at 22 and decided to act swiftly.
Stanley impressive size is undoubtedly a major reason the Jets were so excited about the defender, but many scouts also lauded his consistent ability to dish out punishing hits, defend on the rush and clear the crease with ease. Had Stanley come along a mere two decades ago, in the physical low-scoring era of the 90’s, he would have likely been a Top-10 or even Top-5 pick, but in the modern era of hockey – speed and skill have been shown to trump size and grit. One could make the argument Stanley is an old-school type player stuck in the modern era.
Photo: Getty Images/Dennis Pajot
In the time since the 2016 draft, many critics have come forward to question the wisdom of the Logan Stanley pick, dubbing him the “least talented player selected in the first round”. A harsh label to place on a 19-year old kid still growing into his body and certainly not an indicator of his future. Now in his draft +2 year, Stanley is a player that has made a conscious effort throughout his career to improve the weaknesses in his game – namely skating and offense.
“It’s clear it’s a faster game now, so I’m looking to improve that. I try to watch Shea Weber and play like him. He’s a good skater, a leader, and he’s had a great career so far. Definitely someone I look up to. … I love how hard he plays the game”, he told WinnipegJets.com around the time of the draft.
The Kitchener, Ontario native put up 17 points (5+12) in 64 games in his draft season and came back in 2016-17 with 17 points (4+13) in an injury-filled season that only amounted to 34 games for the Windsor Spitfires. However, he came back at the very tail end of it to help the Spitfires conquer the Memorial Cup on home ice, adding a goal and an assist in four games.
During the offseason Stanley was one of several veteran players on the championship Spitfires squad to be traded – a common occurrence in Canadian major junior hockey when a team has loaded up to win it all – with him ending up on a Kitchener Rangers that looks poised to make a run this season. Leaving the team that drafted him back in 2014 wasn’t exactly easy for Logan though, even if it meant returning home.
“It’ll be good to start fresh this year and be there the whole season, but, on the other side, it’s tough to leave teammates that you did something special with and won a championship. It’s tough to get up and go, but that’s part of the game. You have to roll with it.”, he told the Windsor Star.
Stanley certainly seem to have come into his own playing for the Rangers in 2017-18. He was given one of the assistant captaincies early in his tenure to which he has responded by scoring 12 goals and adding 22 assists for 34 points in 44 games so far this season. Having already doubled his best point total in the OHL, the sky seems to be the limit for Stanleys improvements this season.
With the Jets confidence in him likely restored (was it ever not there?) and the critics having quieted down (for now), Logan Stanley continues to show all the signs of a tough old-school player who has adapted successfully to a new era of hockey.