The Other Stars: Logan Stankoven and Mavrik Bourque Can't Stop, Won't Stop
The dynamic prospect duo just keep coming.
Apologies, Stack readers: I promised a Stray Observations podcast on Monday and a Texas Stars report on Tuesday, and you got neither. A busy workweek, an unexpected appearance on the Spits and Suds podcast, and me slowly working through my latest D Magazine piece caught up to me. Nonetheless, we’re here so let’s get moving. If you want to hear my thoughts on the Stars win over New York, and the Mike Modano stuff, listen below!
The Texas Stars weekend was a good ole' fashioned beatdown over Detroit's affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. The team managed to put more than a touchdown and a field goal on them through two games, which honestly, I thought was kind of surprising.
Detroit has a collection of strong prospects, many of whom came from the first round Marco Kasper, Simon Edvisson, Sebastian Cossa (not to mention players like William Wallinder and Elmer Soderblom). Yet Texas made mincemeat of them. That's not to say that Dallas has better prospects than Detroit. Unlike Grand Rapids, Texas has a decent support group with veterans like Curtis McKenzie, Alex Petrovic, and Derrick Puliot. Still, it was a modest shocker.
And it all started with you know who.
Logan Stankoven & Mavrik Bourque
The dynamic duo just keeps on ticking. I haven't picked up on anything to track in terms of development except that I've been woefully underrating Stankoven's shot. He's always had a good one. But I never thought of it as particularly strong. Seeing him score from the blueline like he did has me re-thinking what he'll be able to at the NHL level. Likewise with Bourque, who also scored this weekend.
However, goals don’t always translate. This kind of dogged play on the forecheck, however does.
Lian Bichsel
Bichsel has slowed down a little, but one reason why I feel comfortably still riding the hype train is that this weekend he was up against one of the better defensive prospects in hockey (Edvinsson), and one of Detroit's personal best (Wallinder) and Bichsel still looked like a cut above. Not only is that saying
something but it might be saying too much: if Edvinsson tops out as the better defensemen — and most prospect experts do — I didn't see anything to make me think Bichsel was a cut below. And no, I haven’t watched Edvinsson as closely as Bichsel so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
However, if I may: If anything I would humbly argue that scouts should pay more respect to big, smooth skating defensemen that can defend than big, smooth skating defensemen who specialize in offense. Just saying.
It’s easy to see why Neil Graham trusts Bichsel at 4 on 4. Because two forecheckers are not enough.
Bichsel routinely leaves himself with space thanks to his combination of agility and puck handling. It’s the single biggest reason why I don’t think comparing him to Chris Tanev is crazy. He’s a real one.
Matt Murray/Remi Poirier
Murray has a .928 save percentage and while Poirier is only at .902 (the Manitoba game still lingers), Poirier also hasn’t lost in regulation in six games, owning a record of 4-1-2. Dallas has goaltending depth. Proven or not, injuries shouldn’t worry this org.
Christian Kyrou
You're never gonna see me use the word "bust" until absolutely necessary. And no, I'm not gonna use it here. Kyrou scored a goal last week, and at least looked for a second like he might be building towards some semblance of confidence in his game. But against a weak team he struggled this weekend. It wasn't just one thing either: ugly breakouts, coasting on backchecks, decision-making with the puck, etc.
The problem I have when I watch Kyrou is that I can't even envision any number of improvements being enough. Small, puck moving defensemen are not rare in the NHL, but slow, small puck defensemen definitely are. Kyrou is a small, slow, puck moving defensemen whose offensive traits disappear against an aggressive forecheck. Bichsel has all but taken over his spot on the second power play unit. Even if Bichsel were to move on up in the world, I'm not even sure Kyrou would be my next in line. That honor would go to Gavin White IMO (which I'll get to). I want to believe in Kyrou, and I don't want to sit here and crap on him everytime he underperforms. Because of that, I’ll refrain from Kyrou commentary from here on out. If he finds his game, great. I’ll be the first to talk up his resurgence.
Matej Blumel
In any other season, Blumel would be the talk of the town. He’s a point per game player right now and even though he's on the older end of prospect status, he's playing with real intention. There's not much to his game, which is why I don't have many words reserved for him but don't mistake that for the lack of
intrigue. I haven't seen anything in his game that I feel has shifted to make him more dynamic, but that's probably on me. After all, it's not nothing that he was taken off the top line quite a few moons ago and still hasn't slowed down.
Chase Wheatcroft
Wheatcroft didn’t score this past weekend but Michael Karow did and that was thanks to this individual effort.
I’m still not entirely sure what Wheatcroft is besides a creative shooter and crafty puck handler, but he has my attention more often than not despite playing on an extremely weak line so that counts for something.
Gavin White
I was paying attention to White at Traverse City. Mainly because I heard other people talking about him. I wasn't really impressed on first watch. Yea, he was fast, but all I saw was athletic ability. To be honest, I don't think much has changed. He's not super creative offensively and defensively, and I haven't noticed him as an expert positioner or anything.
However, repeating what at I said in the Stankoven vs. Bourque Who Makes It First debate, NHL level hockey is as much about hockey smarts as it is about hockey horsepower. Everybody makes the effort. Everybody is skilled. Everybody knows the system. Because of that, players need to be able to jailbreak that hockey thresher. In some ways White as the antithesis of Kyrou: a player whose lack of athleticisim is directly highlighting the weakest aspects of his game.
Not so for White.
Granted, this isn’t exactly a great look. That was basically a drop pass to the opponent. But his drive through the neutral zone was, and that was despite falling to one knee.
I also don’t think I’ve ever seen someone break an opponent’s angles from ten feet away.
Being a plus athlete is not everything. However, it helps when channeled through a competent player, and White seems to be simplifying his game. What I'm noticing about White is that similar to Stankoven, he plays with maximum effort. It's helped that he's gotten shifts with Bichsel. I don’t want to gas White up too much. He’s been sheltered, and hasn’t even played the full set of games, but it’ll be interesting to watch his development.
Blumel contributing next to Bourque and Stankoven, kind of a no duh statement. Blumel continuing to produce away from them, tell me more. Dallas has recently been a factory for bottom 6 forwards who can have a spark of life, but only when they go to another team and play against the Stars. Assuming nothing major shifts trajectories, the Stars have 5 top 6 forwards with Roope being the "old man" at 27 (6 if you want to include Marchment a year older). At some point this team will need bottom 6 guys and having a known guy like Blumel as an option is a nice luxury to go along with Dellandrea, Seguin and maybe Steel.
Idk about the origins of "lettuce" as a term, but it's been a thing in Minnesota for a minute. Since '05 atleast.
2022 Minnesota State Highschool All Hockey Hair Team
(Welcome to Flowchella)
https://youtu.be/XW9MJD9Nssw?feature=shared
Hockey Hair 101 doesn't cover lingo, so it's an understandable oversight.
https://youtu.be/rdtmUUVIkyA?feature=shared