Logan Stankoven and three other top AHL prospects vying for NHL recalls

Mike Gould
Mike Gould
Logan Stankoven and three other top AHL prospects vying for NHL recalls
Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The American Hockey League is a funny place. It features an eclectic mix of your classic quad-A players, grizzled veterans keeping their careers going, old-school enforcers, and some of the most talented prospects in the world.

Over the years, the AHL’s reputation has grown substantially and it is now widely considered one of the very best leagues in the world, arguably second behind the NHL (especially according to certain statistical models). The talent level down there is improving all the time.

With teams investing more and more resources into player development, minor-league hockey has become a big business. There’s a lot to gain by taking your time to marinate your top prospects in the AHL.

Here are four highly regarded prospects stating their cases for recalls to the big leagues with terrific performances in their first full AHL campaigns.

Logan Stankoven (Dallas Stars)

It remains absolutely unfathomable that Logan Stankoven fell all the way to No. 47 overall in the 2021 NHL Draft. Yes, he’s 5’8″ on a good day. That does not matter. The former Kamloops Blazer and two-time Team Canada WJC standout has been turning heads all year long with the AHL’s Texas Stars.

All Stankoven has ever done is score. He did it relentlessly at the WHL level and has continued on that path with Texas. He is the AHL’s leading rookie scorer by a comfortable margin and is second in the entire league — behind only teammate Mavrik Bourque — with 29 points in 21 games this season.

It makes sense. Stankoven scored 29 goals in 59 games as a 16-year-old with the Blazers in 2019–20. Over his last two junior seasons with Kamloops, he amassed a flat-out comical 106 goals in 138 games over the regular season and playoffs. Now, through his first 21 professional games, Stankoven leads the entire AHL with 14 goals.

The entire league passed on Stankoven at the 2021 NHL Draft. Many teams did so twice (or even more times). It can’t be long now before he starts getting his feet wet at the NHL level.

Brad Lambert (Winnipeg Jets)

For a long time in the years leading up to the 2022 NHL Draft, Brad Lambert seemed like a shoo-in to become a top-10 pick. The speedy, slick center looked to be at ease in the Finnish ranks before a disastrous draft year in the Liiga and underwhelming World Junior showings resulted in him tumbling down most lists. He ended up going to the Jets at No. 30 overall.

Lambert continued to struggle during his time with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose at the start of the 2022–23 season, but he took off upon being assigned to the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds. Many nights, it was Lambert who drove the bus on a star-studded T-Birds team that ended up making it to the Memorial Cup. He was a force to be reckoned with in transition and the most dangerous areas of the offensive zone.

This time around, Lambert is finding much more success in the Jets’ pro ranks. He and fellow top prospect Nikita Chibrikov have formed a strong 1-2 punch at the top of Manitoba’s scoring leaderboard, but Lambert has posted far better on-ice numbers at 5-on-5 despite being a year younger.

It’s hard to say whether Lambert will turn into a top-six center for this Jets team — he has all the talent to become one — but his performance this year has been extremely encouraging.

Dylan Guenther (Arizona Coyotes)

Hey, speaking of the 2022–23 Seattle Thunderbirds … Dylan Guenther was also a member of that team and has been similarly impactful as Lambert in the AHL this season. However, unlike Lambert (and Stankoven), Guenther already has a decent chunk of NHL games under his belt and is looking to return to the top level instead of reaching it for the first time.

Guenther cracked Arizona’s lineup out of training camp last year and appeared in 33 NHL games with the Coyotes as a 19-year-old, racking up 15 points (six goals, nine assists). The Coyotes also allowed Guenther to play for Team Canada at the World Juniors, where he scored the Golden Goal, before sending him back to the WHL to close out the season.

Now back in the pro ranks, Guenther has been the most consistent scorer on a middle-of-the-road Tucson Roadrunners team and is stating a pretty strong case to join an injury-ravaged Coyotes club at some point in the back half of the season. Through 22 games, Guenther has a team leading 19 points — nobody else has more than 12 — and 61 shots on goal.

“Spicy Dyl” has always been regarded as a high-end sniper. If he can round out his game, he’ll be an excellent top-six winger for the Coyotes.

Brandt Clarke (Los Angeles Kings)

Another member of Team Canada at the 2023 World Juniors, Clarke also has some NHL games to his credit and is now tearing it up in his first full pro season. The 20-year-old defenseman is currently tied for third in the entire AHL — with only Bourque and Stankoven ahead of him — with 25 points in 23 games this year. His 73 shots on goal rank ninth in the league and third among defenders.

It’s awfully lofty to suggest any player could be a Drew Doughty replacement, but … well, Doughty just turned 34. He’s playing outstanding hockey right now, but aging curves are undefeated — just ask Alex Ovechkin. The Kings will eventually need someone to come in and steal that job. Clarke is an average-sized defender who played in the OHL, has plenty of experience playing for Team Canada and puts up a ton of points at every level. There are a ton of similarities there.

Doughty has never played a game in the AHL, where Clarke is currently plying his trade. The Kings are one of the NHL’s hottest teams, so they don’t need much immediate help. But at some point down the line, Clarke’s time will come. Remember when the Avs turned into a true contender seemingly overnight when Cale Makar entered the lineup for the first time? It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Clarke has a similar impact on this Kings team.

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