Raiders forward Sloan Stanick leads the team with 35 points and is on pace for a career year. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

cracking into ahl roster

Former Raider Stanick hopes to start pro career in Henderson

Oct 7, 2024 | 1:29 PM

For the last three seasons, Sloan Stanick has entertained the crowds in the Art Hauser Centre as a member of the Prince Albert Raiders. After his 20-year-old season came to an end, Stanick was invited to the Vegas Golden Knights rookie camp, and as a result he’s worked his way into a tryout and now two preseason games with their AHL affiliate the Henderson Silver Knights.

Stanick was originally drafted by the Everett Silvertips in the seventh round 145th overall of the 2018 WHL Draft, but was traded to the Regina Pats and played his first games in the WHL as a Pat during his 16 and 17-year-old years. Five games into his 18-year-old year, Stanick was acquired by the Raiders via trade, and he played the rest of his three seasons in the WHL in Prince Albert and eventually became an assistant captain.

For Stanick, he wasn’t drafted by an NHL team, so his process in getting to the professional leagues was different over the summer. While he put in the work on the ice and in the gym, Stanick said that the communications work was done by his agent, his now former head coach and general manager from the Raiders.

“So I have a great agent who reaches out to teams and they reach out to him, and then obviously Jeff Truitt was a big part of helping me land a spot at Vegas development camp, and then again in Vegas rookie camp. Curtis Hunt helped very much as well, and just having those three guys to help me and push my name forward, really, really helped, and I was able to get the opportunity and just wanted to take advantage of it.”

At the time of this writing, Stanick is just with the team on a tryout and has not made the Henderson Silver Knights yet. He has been a part of their camp and made it on to the roster for both of the Silver Knights’ two preseason games against the Tucson Roadrunners, both of which the Silver Knights lost.

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To prepare for his efforts to break into the pros season, Stanick spent time in the summer working with professional hockey players out of Brandon, Manitoba both on and off the ice, just 30 minutes south of his hometown of Rapid City. He still kept ties with the WHL over the summer working with the trainer for the Brandon Wheat Kings.

“It was definitely a very important summer for myself and I had a great trainer in Brandon. He’s actually the Brandon Wheat Kings trainer and he helped me prepare throughout the whole summer and it was very amazing to work with him, and then just skating with all the professional guys out of Brandon really helped me prepare for this upcoming season. It was something I needed and something that gives me lots of confidence throughout rookie camp and Henderson’s camp here today.”

When it comes to the shift from playing junior hockey to now pursuing hockey as a career, Stanick hasn’t felt the shift too bad yet. He believes his approach to the game through junior will help him make the adjustment into his professional career.

“Throughout the summer, I’ll say I wanted to do the best I could, but I just want to be where my feet are. Obviously it’s a business now, and it’s been a business throughout junior as well is how I’ve approached every day. I just want to be where my feet are and go day by day and just put my best foot forward and wherever the chips lie, they lie.”

While Stanick hasn’t felt the shift mentally from going from a junior hockey player and now going into a professional life in the game, he has felt the difference physically. Three days into Silver Knights camp and after an NHL camp with Vegas, Stanick said that not only are guys physically stronger than his competition in the WHL was, but they all do the little things right too.

“Most of the players’ sticks are in the right positions now and they’re all very good with their sticks. You have to make the right plays, and then be very strong on the wall and the defensive zone, be able to get the puck out the first time. When you do have those big defencemen coming up on you and trying to pressure you and then just being very strong on the puck in the corners and doing everything you can to win those 5050 battles.”

Stanick is appreciative of his time in Prince Albert. Not only did his connections with the team help him get into his first professional league tryout, but the community around the Raiders welcomed him with open arms and the appreciation he has for the fans in Prince Albert will last a lifetime.

“I just can’t thank the Raiders fans enough as well, definitely miss them. Every guy I talked to from the WHL, they don’t like coming to Prince Albert cause the fans are so good and always on our side. So I definitely want to give a shout out to them and they’ve been great over the last few years, and I already see their support this year. It’s awesome to see. Go Raiders go.”

The last player to go from the Prince Albert Raiders to the Henderson Silver Knights was former captain Brayden Pachal. Similarly, Pachal was also undrafted in the NHL after a four-year junior career, and he went on to win a Stanley Cup as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights. He now plays with the Calgary Flames.

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Nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com