Former WHL Player of the Year Stankoven, longtime Raider Nelson capture AHL awards

2022 WHL Player of the Year Logan Stankoven has been named the winner of the American Hockey League’s Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award as the AHL’s most outstanding rookie for the 2023-24 season.

Stankoven, a Texas Stars forward, led all American Hockey League scorers with 24 goals and 33 assists for 57 points in 47 games before being called up to the NHL’s Dallas Stars in February.

The Kamloops, B.C. product added 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 24 NHL games to close out the season and currently has one assist in two Stanley Cup Playoff matches against the reigning champion Vegas Golden Knights.

Despite missing the last two months of the AHL’s regular season, Stankoven still finished first in points among AHL rookies and third in goals and assists.

The 21-year-old played in the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic and was voted to the AHL All-Rookie Team and the AHL First All-Star Team.

Stankoven was selected by Dallas with the 47th pick in the second round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

He played parts of five seasons with the Kamloops Blazers, tallying 115 goals and 145 assists for 260 points in 179 regular-season contests and earning the Blazers’ captaincy for his final two years in the league.

Stankoven’s long list of accolades includes clinching the CHL Player of the Year (2022), the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the WHL Player of the Year (2022), the Brad Hornung Memorial Trophy as the WHL Most Sportsmanlike Player (2022), the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy as the WHL Humanitarian of the Year and the Ed Chynoweth Award for most points at the 2023 Memorial Cup.

Hershey Bears bench boss Todd Nelson has also won the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the AHL’s most outstanding coach for the 2023-24 season.

The awards are voted on by coaches, players and media members in each of the league’s 32 markets.

A year removed from capturing the Calder Cup, Nelson coached Hersey to the second-best regular season in AHL history with a 53-14-0-5 record.

The Bears’ 111 points cleared the next-closest team in the Eastern Conference team by 18 points.

Nelson’s side allowed just 2.10 goals per game (the ninth-lowest average in the league’s 88-year history) and boasted the league’s best penalty kill at 87.7 percent efficiency.

Over 10 seasons in the AHL, Nelson has amassed a record of 406-222-77, ranking eighth on the league’s all-time wins list.

The Prince Albert, Sask. product has also worked in the NHL as a Head Coach with the Edmonton Oilers and as an assistant coach with the Oilers, Atlanta Thrashers and Dallas Stars.

He suited up as a defenceman for parts of five seasons with his hometown Raiders from 1985-1990, netting 31 goals and 114 assists for 145 points in 252 regular season games.