Stanley’s development steady as Moose mainstay

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/06/2019 (2263 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Six-foot-seven defenceman Logan Stanley is a difficult guy to miss, yet he rarely gets a mention when followers of the Winnipeg Jets opine on the makeup of NHL club’s blue line this fall.

Even this Free Press scribe omitted him recently from a ‘who’s-who’ list of players with a conceivable chance of appearing on Winnipeg’s back end as it undergoes a major metamorphasis this off-season.

But Stanley’s head coach during the 2018-19 American Hockey League season says including the former first-round draft pick in the conversation is long overdue.

“I saw him after he got drafted (2016), the following year and then the year we just finished, and the poise he has with the puck, for a defenceman — the way the game is played now with the speed of the forwards — to turn, get that puck and make a play under pressure is a real asset,” said Manitoba Moose bench boss Pascal Vincent, speaking after Thursday’s on-ice sessions at the Jets development camp.

“We knew he had the talent, we knew he had the size and the stick, now he’s bringing those pieces together. When you’re that big at such a young age, you’re still getting used to your body. “

Still just 21, this is the fourth appearance at development camp for the Waterloo, Ont., product, although he’s being kept off the ice because of a minor injury.

Initially, Stanley was a specimen worth grabbing at the 18th-overall spot — 16 picks after Patrik Laine — of the 2016 NHL draft in Buffalo. He completed four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League before turning pro last summer.

The left-shot defencman played the entire 2018-19 campaign with the Moose, a significant achievement but still short of the ultimate goal, he said.

“I didn’t think I accomplished what I wanted to, because I didn’t play in the NHL all year. That’s your main goal, to play in the NHL, so when that doesn’t happen there is always more to improve on. So, this summer, that’s what I’m working for and that’s what I hope to accomplish next year,” said Stanley.

Holes created by the recent Jacob Trouba trade and the possible departures of Tyler Myers and another unrestricted free agent, Ben Chiarot, offer hope for young players knocking on the door for full-time employment, such as Sami Niku and Tucker Poolman — who already have NHL experience — and Stanley.

But Stanley refuses to peer into the crystal ball.

“You never try to look at that stuff too much, with who they sign or don’t sign. You just want to come to camp and be the best version of yourself and be the best hockey player to help the Winnipeg Jets win hockey games, and that’s what I’m trying to do this summer.”

Stanley’s physical attributes are undeniable. He’s the only man in the Jets organization with the ability to look the towering Myers squarely in the eyes during a conversation.

With loft comes reach, and Stanley can wave his stick deep in the defensive zone and nearly break up a pass in neutral territory — almost. He’s filled out that lanky frame, hitting the scale at over 235 brawny pounds, and his preference is to protect areas around his own net with force.

Concerns about his ability to perform at a high level were eased as the last regular season went on, and a noticeable escalation in his footspeed and quicker turns in flight have only added to his arsenal.

“I definitely got more comfortable throughout the year. You get used to the speed and the size of some of the other guys that you’re playing against. You build confidence and it also helped playing with some good players and good D partners all year and learning from the older guys,” Stanley said. “I thought I held my own toward the end.

“Everyone in today’s game is trying to get faster somehow… but you want to improve at everything. For me, with how the game is going now and how fast it is, that’s what I try and work on every single day.”

Considered a heady junior with the Windsor Spitfires and later the Kitchener Rangers, Stanley’s size worked against him as a mobile, puck-moving D-man. During a few brief stops in Winnipeg for development camps, Stanley looked, in a word, awkward.

“When I got drafted I was kind of a tall boy and now I’m trying to turn into more of a man here,” he said. “Just sticking with your summer training, eating right and building muscle, that’s going to help me a lot to get faster and to develop my game more.”

Stanley scored six goals and added 16 assists and was a minus-nine with the Moose in his debut season as a professional, while racking up 70 penalty minutes.

Vincent said statistics alone don’t tell the full story about the big man’s worth to the Jets’ minor-league squad.

“We had a sequence in California where we had to play five games on the road. We had quite a few injuries and I had to play him 28, 29, 30 minutes a game. And physical games. They were hard on the forecheck and heavy pressure, and he was the best player on the ice,” said the coach.

Vincent said Stanley is the epitome of what a patient approach can produce.

“Moving on the ice at the pro level the way he did last year, where he started and where he finished, he was on the power play, he was on the PK (penalty kill),” said Vincent. “Our second half of the season we played almost a .700 winning percentage and he was on our top pairing, playing against top players. So, there’s a lot of good things going his way.

“We had our exit meetings at the end of the season, you talk to the player, he’s one of the veterans, he’s solid. I think he’s going to play and people in Winnipeg will like him a lot.”

 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell