Logan Stankoven: First Goal in Carolina
Logan Stankoven is going to be an excellent player for the Carolina Hurricanes for years to come, as in a player who can be a legit top-line player for the Canes for the next decade. Based on trajectory and growth, he really could fit the mold of a Seth Jarvis style player and personality in Carolina, where he can continue to grow and become the best player that he can be individually.
With Stankoven, he does a really great job combining his off and on puck movement, allowing him to attack space effectively and he does a great job of forechecking with tenacity and discipline. Stankoven is essentially the perfect Hurricanes style player, where he can continue to leverage his offense and his two-way ability to become a prominent two-way winger on the Canes’ roster. I think it’s also unique given his age and how he can move up and down the Canes’ top-9 heading into the playoffs as well.
Ideally, it would’ve been ideal for Carolina to get Rantanen, but with him likely to walk, it only made sense that Carolina could get a legitimate roster player in return. Stankoven is that and more. Again, I truly believe with his compete level, forechecking, style of play, offensive and defensive ability, Stankoven could become a top-six scoring winger for years to come in the future as well.
On his first goal as a Cane last night against Winnipeg, Stankoven displayed an underrated ability of his on his first goal, that being redirections. Stankoven is really underrated when it comes to tipping pucks on net and getting them there in a timely, quick way, and Stankoven is really effective at being able to find space with his shot opportunities on net.
I love this display of stick skill and turning into the puck to redirect the puck with pace and precision. This is a skill, not something done instinctively, as players tend to spend a lot of time deflecting pucks and tipping pucks on net in practice. It takes a lot of reps to do this well on a regular basis, and I think this could be something Stankoven could incorporate on the power play in Carolina very nicely as well.
What’s noticeable are multiple things with Stankoven at the net inside this sequence before he scores:
When the puck is at the point, notice how Stankoven does a great job popping off to the side
That allows Stankoven to be in tip position
From there, Stankoven just needs to open the lane for Gostisbehere so he can shoot through the traffic, or else Stankoven won’t be in position to tip the puck as effectively as he did
Through Stankoven’s anticipation at the net, that allowed him to pop off slightly and be available for the tip, and redirecting the puck starting with his stick in mid air as well.