On yesterday’s Illegal Curve Hockey Show we spoke with TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button to talk World Juniors, Jets and even the 2018 Olympics. We asked him about Logan Stanley after the Jets 2016 1st rounder (18th overall) was released by Team Canada.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence
Drew asked Button whether Stanley can still be considered a prized prospect in the Jets pipeline and Craig brought the fire in his response.
“Ya they should consider him a prized prospect. I mean he’s been a really good player in Kitchener this year. Last year, he came back from a serious knee injury and got himself healthy and back playing and was a key performer for a team that won the Memorial Cup a team that had Michael DiPietro in the net. So the idea that less than 18 months after he was drafted in the first round that you’re now not believing in Logan Stanley, I mean that’s just ludicrous. The bottom line is he’s a really good player. He’s got confidence with the puck, he makes plays with the puck, he’s a competitor. To be a big man like that you’re trying to get your feet underneath you, you’re trying to grow and get coordinated and everything that goes with it. There is a lot going on in his world. To me, you go to Penticton, ya that’s nice. To me, it’s not about evaluating a player about whether he is going to be good or not. It’s about going there and letting a player experience the coaching, the competition against his peer group and then seeing where he’s going. I can’t begin to tell you how many people told me ‘oh Olli Juolevi, he’s not going to play, he wasn’t very good in Penticton’. Well tell anyone who wants to doubt Olli Juolevi watch the Olympics, he’s going to be playing for Finland in the Olympics. That’s how good he is. So you want to give up on players when they are 19 years old, do so at your peril.”
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