NHL contract grades: Hurricanes commit to Logan Stankoven's high ceiling in 8-year deal
Mark Lazerus: Logan Stankoven is not Mikko Rantanen. Likely never will be. And it's unfair to Stankoven that he'll always be linked to Rantanen because he was the consolation prize for the Hurricanes when Rantanen decided Raleigh just wasn't for him.
But here's what Logan Stankoven is: A really good young player and the quintessential Carolina Hurricane. He's fast. He's relentless. He's tenacious. He makes up for his lack of size with an overabundance of hustle. And he probably tops out as a second-liner in terms of scoring.
Stankoven is also just 22 years old, so he still can become something even more. Oh, and he wants to be in Raleigh, too. That matters. But this isn't some sort of saving-face move by Carolina, an attempt to show that the Rantanen trades weren't a total disaster. The Hurricanes got two first-round picks and a long-term piece in Stankoven for their part in the Rantanen saga. That's not bad at all.
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By jumping right from his entry-level deal into a max-term contract, Stankoven is now set until he turns 30. And Carolina bought up his prime UFA years at a modest price. With the cap rising quickly, the thought of having a, say, 26-year-old Stankoven in the middle six for just $6 million a year has to make Hurricanes fans smile.
Stankoven has a modest 20 goals and 52 points in 102 career games, but his ceiling is still quite high, and he's already proven to be a capable playoff performer. As a rookie in Dallas, he had three goals and eight points in a run to the Western Conference final. In his first postseason for Carolina, he had five goals and eight points in a run to the Eastern Conference final.
Carolina gets a solid deal on a Logan Stankoven extension. Stankoven is small, but has some pretty high upside. pic.twitter.com/vw4AT3wsVR
— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) July 1, 2025
Stankoven doesn't solve the Hurricanes' biggest need — a true star scorer like the here-and-gone Jake Guentzel and Rantanen, or Mitch Marner, or even Nikolaj Ehlers. But he does bolster the Hurricanes' biggest strength — their depth scoring — and their exhausting style of play.
General manager Eric Tulsky still has one of the most flexible salary-cap situations in the league. It's just a matter of persuading a superstar to take all that money.
Contract grade: A-
Fit grade: A
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