Not to turn this into a Ville discussion...
But I'd say that his showing early into his career (prior to this preseason) were as bad or worse than Stanley's (although his games were played when he was much younger than Stanley's first games)
There seems to be some weird reverse discrimination against Logan because of his size, and corresponding weird favoritism towards Heinola because of his skill shown at lower levels
At the end of the day, they both need to prove themselves at the NHL level. Stan's been given opportunities but he's also been sat for periods of time to the point where he's allegedly asked for a trade
Ville had 13 games in the NHL by the end of his D+2 season, 25 by the end of his D+3 year and 35 by the end of his D+4 year.
Stanley didn't get a single game until his D+5 season
IDK about that. Heinola has his haters. Every play scrutinized, every missed hit or fluffed pass dissected. Can't skate can't shoot can't hit, too small too weak too flashy too popcorn'd too Finnish too whatever -- just like Stan, really, but in opposite world. These two are our bisected souls, and if this were Shogun, they'd have to face each other at centre ice and do battle unto waivers.
Nothing either player can do about their perception by fans really. I'd say both have done their best to listen to coaching and improve, and make an impact where and when they can, and both deserve their shots now above Schmidt or whomever next season or during the POs.
I do think Stan's size has bought him more chances than many -- but that's hockey, or one version of it anyway. I'd much rather have had both -- and Kovy -- playing above some of the slugs we threw out there under Late Maurice. Those were wasted years, and hopefully some lessons were learned.
But then we have to hear about how our top line has been "struggling" even as it's producing and dominating its opposition, and counting the shifts until KFC gets pushed back upstairs, and watch as Top Pairing Pionk makes JMo work 3x as hard to cover for his gaffes and it's fair to wonder what all these seasoned hockey folk are seeing, and why.
But however the org has or hasn't smoothed his path or screwed him over, if Stan is playing good hockey he's earned it, and it's a nice weapon to take into a playoff series. And hopefully Ville's chance comes next year -- he too hopefully brings something special to the lineup, potentially, and has earned his shot.
And then hopefully Salamonster can break through and finally push Pionk off to his next assignment. And we can start all over again, with the next batch.