Logan Stankoven Narrows His Focus on ‘Making it Hard on the Coaching Staff to Send Him Home’

Logan Stankoven is one of the top prospects for the Stars and has a real shot at cracking the NHL lineup this season. After a busy summer of non-stop hockey and many expectations, the chance is finally here. For Stankoven, his focus is to block out the outside noise and focus on what he can control: leaving it all out on the ice. 

“I don’t really try to put too much pressure on myself, I am still a younger guy,” he said after the first session Thursday. “Obviously, my goal is to play in the NHL. At the end of the day, all you can do is leave it all out on the ice and try to make it hard on the coaching staff to send you home. That will be my goal here.” 

Stankoven has had very little time to rest or reflect after a deep Kamloops playoff run, Stars Development Camp, World Juniors, and the Prospect Tournament in Traverse City. The life of a top prospect can be a grind. But the positive behind all of that is that he was able to stay in ‘game shape’ throughout. 

“It was a busy summer,” he said. “A summer where I was kind of in shape the whole time. I had about one month off after the season, then came to Dallas, had a couple of weeks off, then World Juniors for three weeks, so not much time to rest and recuperate. But I think the positive is that I never really got out of game shape, so I think that is definitely helpful going into camp and the season.” 

After all of the hype and preparation, Stankoven is excited to finally be here with a really good shot at making his NHL dreams come true. It starts at camp where he began skating with Joel Kiviranta and Ty Dellandrea. But really, his tryout will likely last through the preseason and into a maximum of nine NHL games before the decision needs to be made: to keep him in Dallas, or to send him back to Kamloops. 

“For sure,” he said when asked if he was excited about the opportunity. “Obviously, exhibition games on Monday and everything's coming up so quick, so [I’ll] try to get some good touches on the ice at Training Camp and get ready to go for games.”