Rangers beef up blue line
Six-foot-seven, 231-pound Stanley returns home in trade for picks, with CHL champion Spitfires
KITCHENER — Logan Stanley is coming home.
The Waterloo defenceman was traded by the defending Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires to the Kitchener Rangers Tuesday for four conditional draft picks.
The Rangers will part with two second round picks (2023, ’24), a third (’23) and a fourth (’20) as long as Stanley — a Winnipeg Jets prospect — suits up at the Aud this season.
“It’s huge for us,” said Rangers general manager Mike McKenzie, who will only lose a 15th round selection should Stanley stick in the pros. “He’s a big guy back there and he’s going to bring an extra element and presence to our back end.”
The towering six-foot-seven, 231-pound blueliner helps offset the loss of captain Frank Hora and fellow rearguard Dylan Di Perna, both of whom graduated from the Ontario Hockey League.
The Rangers and Spitfires have done business before.
The Blueshirts sent elite winger Jeremy Bracco to Windsor to boost the team’s Memorial Cup chances this past January, for defenceman Andrew Burns, forward Cole Carter and several draft picks.
The package seemed light leading to speculation that a followup deal would occur in the off-season. In early April, The Record reported that Stanley would in fact be dealt to the Rangers for a package that included two second round draft picks.
At the time, the Rangers denied any knowledge of the trade and still do.
“I know there was stuff earlier,” said McKenzie. “This is just something (Spits GM) Warren (Rychel) and I worked on and it made sense for both sides to do it.”
The move makes the Rangers more of a player in the Ontario Hockey League’s western conference, after five years of playoff futility that has seen the club fail to advance past the second round.
It also signals that a rebuilding phase is underway in Windsor, after the club unloaded its draft pick cupboard to make a successful run at the Memorial Cup this past season.
“They obviously had a big year last year,” said McKenzie.
“I’m sure it’s a bittersweet feeling for (Stanley), but I think he’s excited for the chance to play in his hometown.”
The Rangers now have nine defencemen under contract this season.
“It’s a juggling act for sure,” said McKenzie. “It’s never easy to keep that many people happy. There is only so much ice for everyone. Looking ahead, we may have to address that at some point.”
Stanley had 17 points in 35 games for the Spitfires last season, but missed the second half of the campaign and playoffs after suffering a knee injury requiring surgery.
The 19-year-old wasn’t expected to be back for the Memorial Cup, but returned ahead of schedule and helped the Spits hoist the trophy on home ice in late May.