Sloan Stanick is the newest member of the Prince Albert Raiders as the team acquired him for defenseman Adam McNutt. (Keith Hershmiller/Regina Pats)

By Rob Mahon

Raiders Trade For Forward

Raiders flip McNutt to Regina for forward Stanick

Oct 12, 2021 | 4:00 PM

Forward Sloan Stanick is already well familiar with the Prince Albert Raiders. In fact, he scored two goals against them in his second game of the season when he was a member of the Regina Pats. The Raiders won’t have to worry about him scoring goals against them for the foreseeable future, however.

Raiders GM Curtis Hunt swung a trade with the Pats today, sending defenseman Adam McNutt to Regina in exchange for Stanick. The 2003-born forward has four points in five games this year, including his two goals against the Raiders on Oct. 2.

“I’ve always liked Sloan. There was something about his game,” Hunt said. “I think he thinks it out very well. He’s a guy that can play throughout your lineup. He can play with your elite guys as a compliment player, he can move down the lineup, he’s killed penalties and played on special teams in Regina.”

Stanick could provide a healthy dose of forward depth, something the team is in need of through their first four games. With just five goals to the team’s credit so far, an infusion of offense was necessary.

“You look at our team, we’ve struggled to create offense at this point in time,” said Hunt. “For a group that’s struggled to create a little bit of offense, I think he can support that. I think he can also fill in a little bit of a role in the middle part of our lineup that allows some of our younger players to not have to play against older, bigger, stronger guys.”

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Another factor making Stanick more enticing to the Raiders was his birth year. The team only has two other 2003-born forwards on the roster. One, Tyson Laventure, has yet to play a game this season due to injury while the other, Vladislav Shilo, is still dealing with immigration issues and has not played yet either.

“I’ve always liked to have balance in terms of age,” Hunt said. “I think it just makes sense. With three in that age group on defense, unfortunately, there’s only so much ice time to go around and a guy like Kaiden (Guhle) eats up a lot of it.”

The return of Guhle from the Montreal Canadiens, coming hot on the heels of the return of Nolan Allan from the Chicago Blackhawks, means the team had a surplus of defensemen. With that in mind, they had to give up a player in McNutt that played a bruising, physical game and logged regular ice time for them.

“Adam is a guy who has worked extremely hard to get himself in tremendous shape,” Hunt said. “He’s come in and he’s been a great warrior for us. I think it’s a better opportunity for him as well, and I feel good he’s going to a quality organization and a group of people I have a lot of respect for, so that’s a positive. I think it’s a good hockey deal.”

Stanick has played 78 career WHL games, all with Regina. He started last season with the Yellowhead Chiefs of Manitoba’s U18 AAA circuit, posting 14 points in seven games before joining the Pats full time in the hub environment.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP