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Stankoven, Bankier, Pillar headline big day for Kamloops at 2021 NHL Draft

Victor Kaisar
Jul 24, 2021 | 1:37 PM


Stankoven, Bankier, Pillar headline big day for Kamloops at 2021 NHL Draft

A big day for Kamloops at the 2021 NHL Draft, and not just because local boy Logan Stankoven was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the second round.

Stankoven was the marquee pick of the day – a potential first rounder heading into the draft – but he wasn’t the only one with Kamloops ties to hear his name called today.

”Very pleased with where I landed, but I think it gives me so much more motivation to come out this next season and make sure those teams regret that they passed on me,” Stankoven told NL Sports.

Fellow Blazers forwards Caedan Bankier (third round, 86th overall) and Josh Pillar (fourth round, 127th overall) were both drafted by the Minnesota Wild.

“When my name popped up on the screen, it was pretty cool seeing it and finding out that your childhood dream has finally come true,” said Bankier, in an interview with NL Sports. “It’s a pretty special moment for me and my family.”

Ranked 102nd heading into the draft, Bankier, 18, scored 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) in the 2020-21 WHL season, while Pillar, ranked at 166, led the team in scoring with 29 points (11 goals, 18 assists) in 22 games.

The Wild moved up the board by sending two picks in the 2021 draft (150 and 214) to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for the pick it used to select Pillar, 19, who went undrafted last October.

”Seeing those names go up on the draft board, that feeling of not being picked was coming back. It was scary,” Pillar said. “Then to see my name pop up…just a huge relief and a weight off my shoulders.”

Bankier, from Surrey, and Pillar, from Warman, Sask. are billet brothers in Kamloops

“The moment I got drafted Banks face-timed me… I answered and he was just screaming,” Pillar told NL Sports. “It was a cool moment to both be drafted by the same team.”

The Blazers have now had players chosen in ten straight NHL drafts, the longest streak in the WHL’s Western Conference.

“It’s a great day for Logan, Caedan, Josh, and their families. It’s an acknowledgment to the commitment, time and energy they put into their game,” Blazers Head Coach and General Manager, Shaun Clouston said.

“As Don Moores would say, it’s a great day to be a Blazer.”

This is the first time since 2004 where there have been three Kamloops Blazers selected in an NHL Draft. Seventeen years ago, there were five players drafted headlined by goaltender Devan Dubnyk, a first round pick (14th overall) of the Edmonton Oilers.

Also drafted that were year were defencemen Roman Teslyuk (second round, 44th overall to Edmonton) and Max Gordichuk (sixth round, 177th overall to Edmonton) along with forwards Kris Hogg (fourth round, 121st overall to Calgary) and Moises Gutierrez (sixth round, 164th overall to Pittsburgh).

It didn’t end there for Kamloops though as local boy Tyson Galloway – who put up four goals and five assists for nine points in 17 games with the Calgary Hitmen – was a fifth round selection of the St. Louis Blues. The six-foot-four defenceman was ranked 165th among North American skaters heading into the draft.

“I skate well for my size. I take pride in keeping the puck out of my own net,” Galloway said, in a statement from the Blues. “The biggest thing for me is not getting scored on. I like to contribute offensively… I’m just aspiring to be a two-way defenseman. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

Galloway and Stankoven have been teammates for a large part of their minor hockey careers, prior to going their separate ways once they reached the Western Hockey League.

“It was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had in my life. Me and Logs [Stankoven] have grown up together so it’s nice to go through it and experience it with him,” Galloway told NL Sports.

Earlier in the day, Blazers prospect Josh Doan, son of Blazers legend and minority co-owner Shane Doan, was a second round pick of the Arizona Coyotes – taken 37th overall.

After going undrafted in 2020, he now joins the team his father played for during a 21-year NHL career.

“I can’t thank the Chicago Steel enough for what they’ve done but also having my family in my back corner and my dad during some tough times like last years draft and not getting picked, its something I can’t thank then enough for,” the younger Doan said, on the NHL Network.

– With files from Jon Keen 

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