Jets Should Trade Logan Stanley While Value Is High

“He is feeling it and he has been feeling it for the last little while,” assistant coach Dean Chynoweth, who oversees the team’s defensemen, said recently. “He has been given more opportunity because he has earned it. Where he can take it to? We will see.” (From ‘Should he stay or should he go?’, Winnipeg Free Press, Jan. 23, 2026).

His semi-frequent booming slap-shot goals, when combined with his occasional hellacious hit and size — the latter trait something NHL teams often overrate and overpay for when it comes to d-men — make the pending unrestricted free agent someone with potential to be sought after by contenders looking to increase their depth ahead of the postseason.

Stanley’s Defensive Numbers Still Subpar

However, Stanley is still far from the perfect defenseman. As he has been through his entire NHL career since being selected 18th overall in 2016, he is prone to defensive gaffes like this one and his lack of speed is still an issue.

His actual defensive metrics have not improved like his offensive ones have. His CORSI and Fenwick possession numbers at all strengths are well below 50 per cent (45.51 and 44.34, respectively), while his expected goals for percentage is 41.95 and his scoring chances for percentage is 43.72 (the team has had 341 scoring chances for with him on the ice compared to 439 against). These numbers are generally in line with his career averages.

He is clearly still not top-four calibre, and considering his track record of minimal offensive production through his career, this season’s offensive “explosion” could well be a one-off. He and the organization have reportedly not discussed a contract extension, and they cannot possibly justify offering him a multi-year deal worth $25 million or more (which TSN’s Chris Johnston reported Stanley may command).

Time For Jets to Recoup What They Can

The Jets have invested a lot into Stanley over the years and absolutely refused, under any circumstances, to waive him despite him never living up to his billing as a first-round pick. They extended him a level of loyalty that defied logic considering his poor play — seemingly due to a combination of the “sunk-cost fallacy” and a “big-guy” bias — and as a result, lost Johanthan Kovacevic and Declan Chisholm on waivers and blocked them, Leon Gawanke, and Ville Heinola from getting NHL minutes.

Trading Stanley won’t undo all those losses or make up for the missed opportunities to develop others, but getting a higher-round draft pick and/or a decent prospect would represent the organization getting out while the getting is good. With playoffs a long shot — they have less than a 10 per cent chance entering play Jan. 29 — the best thing the organization can do is embrace their destiny as sellers and finally part with the “Stanimal”.