NHL Draft Prospect Profile: Logan Stanley

Get to Know Logan Stanley

Date of Birth: May 26, 1998 (18)
Place of Birth: Kitchener, ON
Ht: 6’6” Wt: 209 lbs
Shoots: Left
Position: Defense
Team: Windsor Spitfires

At 6’6” and 209 lbs Logan Stanley is the kind of physical specimen on the blue line that scouts love to take in the first part of the NHL Entry Draft. No doubt Stanley is a domineering shut down defenseman at the OHL level, but can his skating and play with the puck improve enough to get him to the NHL?

Statistics

What Scouts See
Tyler Parchem, Elite Prospects
Stanley is a huge two way defenceman. He loves to play physical and clear the crease, but also can chip in offensively when needed. He has become a nasty player that the other team dreads whenever he is on the ice. Very few players can match him physically due his monster 6’6 frame, and he uses this to his advantage every game. He is a very consistent player who’s offensive game improved as the year went on. He looked very good in a first round series loss to the Kitchener Rangers in the 2016 OHL Playoffs.

Bill Placzek, Draft Site
Giant defensemen with a great reach, and decent mobility for a youngster this size.Has an active stick and his length lets him close gaps, and Is exceedingly calm under pressure and despite the need to get stronger and bigger, he doesn’t wilt in his defensive zone. Clearly needs quicker stop/starts and better acceleration, but most assuredly an NHL team or two will consider selecting him and letting him develop further.

What BSN Avalanche sees
Watching Logan Stanley play, it’s no surprise that the big, nasty Spitfires rearguard scored just 5 goals and 17 points last season. Stanley does an alright job of moving the puck out from near his own goal, but gets increasingly less confident and creative the closer he gets the offensive zone. Still, for a 6’7” defenseman Stanley carries the puck with more confidence than one might expect. Stanley’s skating, especially his edgework, needs to improve substantially before he could play at an NHL level, which is unsurprising given his size
What makes Stanley an appealing prospect and puts him in the first round conversation for some, is that not only IS Logan Stanley big, but he also plays big. The Windsor blueliner makes a physical impact in every game he plays in and makes life difficult for the opposition on every shift with his good defensive instincts, long reach, and physicality. Stanley is an old school shutdown defenseman who thrives in the dirty areas, dominates physically, and blocks a ton of shots. No question there are some great “bones” with Stanley, how highly scouts rate him will depend largely on whether they believe he can improve some of the tools he’s still missing.

NHL Potential
With a great hockey IQ the sky’s the limit for this hulking 6’7” defenseman. Stanley is the kind of player who scouts salivate over because if he can continue to improve his skating and his play with the puck, he’s capable of becoming a top pairing shutdown defenseman at the next level. The issue with these boom-or-bust prospects is that in an increasingly fast, skating oriented league, coming up short as a skater often means not making it at all.

Expected Draft Position
Logan Stanley is a big project of a player, but his outstanding physical gifts give him leeway with a lot of scouts. Stanley is ranked somewhere between the late teens and the middle of the second round, but given how GM’s love to go after size in the draft, it’s likely that Logan Stanley will be picked by the latter part of the first round.

How Prospect Fits in Avalanche Organization
While Stanley certainly has the size and some of the tools that the Avalanche look for on draft day, the team’s lack of a deep prospect pool makes swinging for the fences on a “project player” like Stanley more difficult when there are safer picks in positions of need on the board. If the Avalanche pick up another pick in the second round, like they did last year, then Stanley becomes a more realistic option at the top of the second round.