Hurricanes rookies Logan Stankoven, Jackson Blake are ‘not afraid of the moment'
RALEIGH, N.C. — The top two rookies remaining in the Stanley Cup playoffs both play for the Carolina Hurricanes — one who was not expected to do this much this soon, and another no one knew would be wearing the red, black and white this spring.
Jackson Blake, the 2021 fourth-round find who is a few months shy of his 22nd birthday, made enough of an impression in his first NHL training camp to earn a spot with the team to start the season and never looked back, scoring 17 goals and playing on the team's top power-play unit much of the year.
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Logan Stankoven, meanwhile, had a bright future in Dallas after playing in nearly as many playoff games (19) as regular season games (24) last season with the Stars — at least until the Mikko Rantanen experiment failed on the Hurricanes. Then Stankoven became Carolina GM Eric Tulsky's prime target, and the Hurricanes acquired him in a deal that shipped Rantanen to the Lone Star State.
'It was mostly about the fit,' Tulsky said Monday. 'Our coaches, our scouting staff, everybody who watched him said this is a guy who's built to play for the Hurricanes. And so that was the No. 1 thing. On top of that, we know we're getting skill, we know we're getting competitiveness, we know we're getting someone who can drop into our team and play the way we want to.'
Now the Hurricanes have a bigger rookie contingent than any of the league's final four teams. But neither Stankoven nor Blake has been paralyzed by the moment. Stankoven can lean on his run to the Western Conference final with Dallas last year, while Blake was one of college hockey's top players the previous two seasons.
'We've already had big moments, and they played great,' Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said of the two rookies on the eve of the team's Eastern Conference final matchup with the Florida Panthers. 'I don't think that the moments really feel much different. It might get heightened a little bit, but they're big-time players and they're here for a reason. I don't really have any doubts.'
Blake and Stankoven have modest but respectable playoff numbers. Stankoven's three goals match Aleksander Barkov and Connor McDavid, while with five points apiece he and Blake are even with Dallas mainstays Tyler Seguin and Matt Duchene and have outscored veterans like Edmonton's Adam Henrique and the Stars' Jamie Benn.
Points, however, aren't everything, and what's perhaps been most impressive about the two rookies is how they've been able to hold their own in coach Rod Brind'Amour's structured system.
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'They're both really skilled and offensive-minded,' said Sebastian Aho, a player who has blossomed into one of the game's top two-way forwards under Brind'Amour. 'But then again, they can play the game the right way. In the playoffs, it's not always scoring goals or making nice passes. Obviously you would like to see those too, but there's a lot to it, and they've definitely been great players for us.'
Blake ran shotgun to Aho on the Hurricanes' top line at the end of the season and through the start of the playoffs, while Stankoven spent time during the regular season playing alongside Staal and Jordan Martinook on Carolina's shutdown line — roles that aren't handed out without merit by Brind'Amour.
Both are in different spots heading into the series with the Panthers: Blake is opposite Eric Robinson on a line centered by Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Stankoven and Taylor Hall are being centered by Jack Roslovic.
Stankoven said he's taking the lessons learned from his trip with the Stars to the conference final last year — along with a pair of deep playoff runs with the WHL's Kamloops Blazers — and applying them to this postseason.
'Even dating back to my last two years of junior, I made the conference final both years as well. And when you go so far and you come up short, it's a tough feeling,' said Stankoven, sounding like one of the Hurricanes who has experienced being swept twice in the conference final rather than a playoff neophyte. 'For me, it's like, 'Hey, it's time to get over that hump.' And it would be a dream come true to play in the finals.
'It's really motivating, and you never know when you get that opportunity again. So you make the most of it, and you do it for the guys in the room, to guys that have been playing for a long time and want to win a Cup.'
He can't look around the Hurricanes' locker room without seeing a player who has played a decade or more in the NHL without winning a championship — from former first overall pick Hall and Norris Trophy winner Brent Burns to oft-maligned goalie Frederik Andersen and heart-and-soul warrior Martinook.
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And the infusion of youth — Carolina has used rookie Alexander Nikishin in one game this postseason, with Scott Morrow also a plug-and-play option on defense — can give a boost to those who are perhaps wondering if their chance to lift the Cup will ever come.
'It definitely brings energy in a room and on the ice,' said Aho, who has gone from a young, emerging star to now being in his ninth season, probably with fewer chances left than he's already had. 'Sometimes it's good to have a couple of rookies there to bring some fresh legs. I feel like both are definitely, first off, adapted to the NHL level, and (they) obviously proved that they're definitely NHL players. But then in these playoffs, they can play, right? They can play different ways.'
The rookies are also quickly learning the difference between their prior experience and this current one.
'College was just one game and you're done,' Blake said during the series against the Devils. 'So I like this, honestly. I've never played in a seven-game series in my life — the most I've played is five in USHL. … I think the team that wears the other team down the most usually comes out successful.'
That fits the Hurricanes' mindset, and Brind'Amour has been quick to say neither looks out of place despite the rookie label.
'He's still a young kid,' Brind'Amour said of Blake, 'but I think his play certainly doesn't look like he's a first-timer in this environment. … He's not afraid of the moment. We knew that anyway, just the way he played all year. But he's still just a kid.'
One of two kids the Hurricanes are more than comfortable counting on — and who already feel like part of the bigger goal.
'I feel right at home, and it feels like I've been here for quite a while now, a couple years,' said Stankoven. 'But obviously it's only been a few months.'
(Top photo of Jackson Blake: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
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His brother Elliot is a former captain of the Halifax Mooseheads who was signed by the Philadelphia Flyers. At the Wildcats' QMJHL championship celebration, they named Desnoyers captain of next year's team as well. He said 'No decision has been taken yet' on whether he's going back to Moncton next season, however. 'My main goal is to play in the NHL as soon as possible, and if not, I'll be at the place where I'm able to be in the NHL the year after, and Moncton's a great choice for that,' he said. Growing up, Caleb was the youngest of three boys and always the smallest. According to Elliot, he always had to compete for everything, whether they were playing games or sports. These days, though, the playing field has leveled. Now Caleb's taller (6 feet 1.5 to Elliot's 5 feet 11), and they've been able to skate and work out in the same groups. Elliot has cherished that. 'We just push each other so hard,' Elliot said of Caleb catching up to him. 'It has been quite fun to be honest. Especially recently.' They used to talk about Elliot around the QMJHL the way they talk about Caleb now. Trusted. Reliable. Consistent. A leader. Loved by coaches. A two-way center. Elliot says he and his little brother both think the game the same way, but play at different speeds (Caleb plays faster, he admits). Advertisement Trepanier says 'everything that Elliot does is really professional' and that that has rubbed off on Caleb, from his mentality to his eating and sleeping habits. He describes them as best friends who do everything together. They train and skate together. They fish and golf together. They watch and talk hockey together. But Elliot looks up to his little brother, too. Said Elliot: 'We always discuss about hockey and I want to see his point of view on stuff as well. I look up to him in the sense of what he's doing with all of the pressure and how he's really disciplined and always wants to be better. I really admire that in him.' Elliot also describes his brother as 'quite the character.' 'He just loves to chat, loves to mess around with people and always makes people feel really good,' Elliot said. 'He's a really easy-going guy, and he has been like that forever. And he's just always so competitive in every aspect of his life.' Caleb has always had an 'aura about him where he shows up at the rink and there's just something about him that lights up the room and gets people involved,' according to Trepanier. 'There's just something, even as a young kid, that's a little bit different,' Trepanier said. 'He makes everybody around him better, and I think that's a pretty decent quality. And there's a lot of stuff for the next level that he and we need to work on but he gets on the ice and he wants to win. If it's during a drill, he wants to be the best guy. If it's during the game, he wants to be the best. And if it's a championship, then he wants to win. He's really mature. He's got one goal and it's to play in the NHL and be the best. Pretty much everything in his life is driven by wanting to be the best.' Both Caleb and Elliot acknowledge they've talked about the Flyers picking at No. 6 and the potential that they could end up in the same organization, but Elliot thinks his brother will be gone by then. Yann Joseph and Maxim Noreau are new to working with Desnoyers. Noreau only retired from his 17-year pro career last March. He started working in player development in the Montreal area right away through his agency, Quartexx, running skates twice a week for them. He first met Desnoyers at one of those skates. They clicked right away, and Desnoyers started coming to Noreau's personal skates on the south shore of the city as well. Advertisement Joseph is a Montreal-area strength and conditioning coach who trains pros such as Anthony Beauvillier and Xavier Bourgault. Last May, the Desnoyers boys and Elliot's Lehigh Valley teammate Zayde Wisdom joined him at his gym for the offseason, switching personal trainers. Joseph worked with Desnoyers to fix some postural issues that he was compensating for on the ice. After a full offseason with him, he played pain-free in his draft year because of their work together (though he did play banged up in the playoffs and into the Memorial Cup). Even though Desnoyers turned 17 just a month before starting with him, Joseph decided to train Desnoyers with his older pro group because he wanted to see if he could follow them. Immediately, he brought an enthusiasm to the gym that transferred to all of the guys. But he performed better than they did in some exercises, too. 'Those guys were like 'Whoa, OK, kid,'' Joseph said. 'So that was fun. Even if they were older, they could watch him and learn. And at the same time, he was doing the same things as those guys and he saw that they're professionals for years and could see the way they managed the workout and the recovery and that was good for him also.' Though Desnoyers says he's 6-2 and 180 pounds, Joseph would poke fun at him and call him 'chicken legs.' But 'he's way stronger than he looks,' Joseph insisted. Ahead of the draft, a few NHL strength and conditioning coaches have asked Joseph to send them Desnoyers' data from the gym. According to Joseph, they've been impressed by his numbers. 'For his size, the way he pushes the bar and the speed with which he pushes the bar is really, really impressive, even with big weights,' Joseph said. 'And when you look at him, he's got like small legs on him right now at 17 years old, and you can see he's got room for growth. But his numbers don't tell the same thing because he's really strong and fast for the size of his legs. I'd ask him sometimes, 'How can you push all that weight with those legs?' and he would laugh.' When Noreau first skated Desnoyers, he wasn't up to date on any of the up-and-coming players. That first skate was focused on shooting (Noreau was known for his shot during his playing career). Desnoyers was a natural, listening intently and picking up on his tips quickly. Right away, Noreau was struck by how hardworking he was. Advertisement 'The big thing with Caleb that I think is even a little overlooked still is attitude-wise, you talk about being a complete player, about being a dog, about being an impact in the game, and some guys want to be that guy but when the big moments come and it's a stressful situation or you've got a lot of pressure to perform, I feel like Caleb is more the type of guy that wants to be there,' Noreau said. 'If a team goes to a shootout, he wants the shot. He knows that there's a big risk and reward to it but I think he knows that 'Hey, I want that. It's on me. And if anybody's going to fail, let it be me.' And that attitude is going to bring him a long way. And sometimes he's going to fail and he won't be perfect all the time, but just to have that attitude, and even in practice he's asking me a lot of questions and why guys do certain things, and just having that, regardless of all of the other attributes that he also has, I think that's huge.' A year after beginning their work together, Noreau now believes the sum of those things will make Desnoyers a player who is used in key situations and put in leadership roles in the NHL. 'You put him out late in a game or on the PK for a faceoff or whatever it is, he's smart enough to know what his job is at that time. It's not about 'I need to be Caleb leading in points,' it's 'Hey, I've got a job to do,'' Noreau said. 'I have a discussion about that with a lot of my top guys, and I always say, 'Do you think that people don't notice in the stands if you're not out there every game late in the game?' That goes a long way, being that guy. And he wants to be that guy.' — With reporting in London, Ont. (Top photo courtesy of Daniel St. Louis / CHL)
