On Thursday, May 3rd the Kamloops Blazers entered the draft room in Red Deer, Alberta not knowing if Kamloops Product Logan Stankoven would be available to them when the selected at 5th overall. He was, and the team from the Tournament Capital made the obvious choice bringing in the home town hero. This year Stankoven had 57 goals and 33 assists while playing for Yale Academy Bantam Prep in Abbotsford. This was good for 3rd in the league only next to Dylan Guenther (1st overall to Edmonton) and Matthew Savoie, who could end up being the 1st ever exceptional status player in the WHL.
Logan Stankoven is the most offensively dominant prospect in the 2003 class. He’s an elusive and dynamic skater with elite puck skills, creating high quality scoring chances nearly every shift. He’s confident controlling the puck in any situation, and has elite playmaking ability off the rush. Has demonstrated high end leadership ability, and maintains poised throughout games as one of the least penalized skaters in the class. Defensively committed to keeping opponents to the outside with an engaged stick and continuous movement, and is quick to anticipate plays and transition up ice. Comparable to Edmonton’s Trey Fix-Wolansky in the way he generates offence and approaches the offensive zone, and statistically should be a dominant offensive player in the WHL. Stankoven has proven himself at every point of the season and will be a very high pick in this years draft. – Draft Geek
There was some talk Kamloops may have to make a trade or two to move up the draft board to grab the 2003-born forward, but as fate would have it, the Blazers didn’t have to. One has to wonder that the reason Stankoven was available at five wasn’t because he was the 5th best draft eligible but rather because his hometown team is really where he wanted to be (something Kamloops’ hasn’t benefited from much lately.)
Stu Macgregor’s day didn’t end there. He went on to draft 9 more players:
- 2nd round, 27th overall – Right Defenseman – Logan Bairos
- 3rd round, 49th overall – Left Center – Caeden Bankier
- 5th round, 93rd overall – Right Wing – Matthew Seminoff
- 7th round, 137th overall – Left Defense – Luke Rybinski
- 7th round, 139th overall – Right Defense – Brayden Ross
- 7th round, 151st overall – Left Wing – Karter McNarland
- 8th round, 159th overall – Left Defence – Josh Wessels
- 8th round, 176th overall – Forward – Benjamin Palmersheim
- 9th round, 181st overall – Right Wing – Oliver Gabrielson
And conduct 2 trades:
- Quinn Benjafield (1997) and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft to Edmonton in exchange for 19-year-old forward Kobe Mohr.
- 19-year-old forward Erik Miller to the Swift Current Broncos in exchange for a conditional seventh round draft pick in 2019.
As the offseason continues look for more Blazer coverage on DUBnetwork.ca
