Winnipeg Jets 2021 Team Awards: Rookie of the Year

Over the next couple of weeks, our site will look back at the Winnipeg Jets 2021 season and name our picks for individual award winners for the Jets. We start our list with the Rookie of the Year.

When the season started, I wrote an article about which three prospects Winnipeg supporters should watch this year and this player did not make the cut. Later on, Dan St. Joseph wrote an outstanding piece outlining this player’s potential as a “bone-crushing, shutdown defenseman” and how he will have an impact this year. You can read Dan’s outstanding article by clicking here.

Dan was one hundred percent right about Logan Stanley and his potential. He is my pick for Winnipeg Jets Rookie of the Year.

Logan Stanley played outstanding for the Winnipeg Jets during his first NHL season

The six-foot-seven-inch defenseman had a solid training camp and was named to the Jets taxi squad at the beginning of the season. Luckily for Stanley, injuries and covid-protocol kept some of the Jets’ mainstays out of the lineup and he eventually made his NHL debut on January 19 in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.

From there Stanley could not be taken out of the lineup. Stanley put in solid performance after solid performance on the Jets’ third defensive pairing and stayed in the Jets lineup for thirteen straight games, but then he was scratched over the next month.

After not playing from February 13 through March 11, the twenty-three-year-old was given another chance to get a run of games and help the Jets with their playoff push.

Stanley again did not disappoint and he played in 24 games in the final three months of the season.

The Waterloo, Ontario native had a fantastic stat line considering his role on the team. In 37 regular season games, Stanley had one goal, three assists, 26 penalty minutes, and a +13 plus/minus.

The Playoffs

There was some uncertainty of who Paul Maurice and the Jets coaching staff would start on Winnipeg’s third d-pair at the start of playoffs, but Maurice decided to give Stanley a start.

This move paid off as Stanley played terrific in the Jets first round series against the Edmonton Oilers. In his postseason debut, he picked up an assist. Stanley finished the series with a +3 rating against a team that had the top-two regular season point scorers.

Although Winnipeg got swept out of the playoffs in the second round by the Montreal Canadiens, Stanley performed well throughout this series and was a bright light for the Winnipeg Jets.

One could argue that Stanley’s best performance of the year came in game four as the Jets were down 3-0 and looking to avoid getting swept.

Stanley was able to eclipse his regular season goals tally in one game as he scored both goals for the Jets on that night.

Unfortunately, Stanley’s efforts were not enough to avoid the sweep, but many people took notice of the rookie defenseman on the biggest stage.

Although Logan Stanley was the only Winnipeg Jets rookie that played more than a handful of games in the 2021 season, he fully deserves all the praise as he stepped in a huge way for the Jets.

It will be fun to watch Stanley next year as he looks to build on his rookie season and grows into an elite shutdown defenseman.

Winnipeg Jets Fans: Do you agree with our selection of Logan Stanley as Winnipeg’s rookie of the year? Leave your comments below!

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