Instead of my usual daily notes, I’m going to deep dive into one of my favorite prospects. Logan Stankoven has been called up by the Stars and scored a goal in both his second and third career games. If you don’t know who he is, believe me, you’ll have it all covered below. I’m going to look at his background, the different aspects of his game, what to expect for him for the rest of this season, and going forward. Let’s get to it!
Stankoven became noticed by the hockey world as he scored 29 goals in his first major junior season for Kamloops. If not for COVID, he would have scored 30 goals, an extremely rare number for a 16 year old. Juniors were shut down in his draft season, but Dallas was confident enough to take him in the second round despite his small stature. Stankoven exploded after being drafted, scoring 104 points in 59 games and then 97 points in 48 games. That’s not even including two monstrous playoff performances and being a key contributor to two gold medal winning Canadian teams at the WJC. After that, he’s been well over a point per game as a first year pro in the AHL before his recent recall. In fact, Stankoven was leading the AHL in points as a rookie before his recall, and has since only been passed by his linemate in Texas, Mavrik Bourque. It’s safe to say that Stankoven has destroyed all competition that he’s faced in his hockey career.
He’s easy to be worried about somebody who is 5’8 and in the 170 pound range. However, with the way he plays, I find it as more of an advantage. His skating isn’t perfect, as it looks like it takes a ton of energy for him to get going. However, that energy is what makes him so good. Stankoven plays an extremely north-south game with a ton of pace, constantly putting defensemen under pressure. He can blow by defensemen with his pace. His bulldog-like approach lets him outmuscle bigger players on a regular basis and Stankoven rarely loses balance despite his size.
Stankoven’s shot is a big asset for his game. Mechanically, it just looks perfect. His playmaking doesn’t get discussed much because of his incredible goal rate to this point, but Stankoven is plenty good enough in that regard, good enough to think he’s easily be a power play contributor throughout his career. Overall, maybe there’s nothing that’s a 75 or 80 on the 20-80 scale, but Stankoven is above average at everything. It’s extremely difficult to watch him and not like him on a regular basis.
Right now, Dallas is rolling him on the third line with Johnston and Benn, plus the second power play unit. That’s about 15 minutes per game on average, plenty to do damage. I’m not rushing to hold a guy who is in his first week in the league playing on the third line, but Stankoven is already in the middling streamer category with upside from there. He’s certainly looked the part, and I just can’t imagine him ever going back to the AHL at this point.
For those of you in dynasties, I’d be hard pressed to not be all-in on Stankoven. He’s a rare prospect that wasn’t drafted in the lottery, but is high floor and high upside. His floor is a third liner who is playing in all situations and makes his linemates better. My projection is that Stankoven ends up in the top six, drives play, and is also an elite finisher. He’s the exact type of player that coaches love because he has a non-stop motor and can beat the opposition in so many different ways. While it’s not going to happen immediately, Stankoven should settle into Dallas’ top six, whether it’s with Hintz and Robertson, or with Johnston and somebody else. Personally, I love the thought of him sticking with Johnston for the next 5+ years, terrorizing the other team on the second line. In fact, we could even see Stankoven/Johnston/Bourque together, eventually passing Hintz and Robertson. I look forward to him being a staple of my fantasy teams for years to come. Welcome to the Razzball Database!
Three Point Challenge: We will do Thursday’s games per usual. You can’t select Kucherov, MacKinnon, McDavid, Pastrnak, Miller, Nylander, Panarin, Matthews, Rantanen or Pettersson. I’ll go with Point against the Sabres.
That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Friday with my usual daily notes. JKJ’s streaming post for the weekend will be out on Thursday. As always, feel free to ask any questions, leave any comments, or give any suggestions below. Thanks for reading, take care!
