Drafted by the
Pittsburgh Penguins in 1985 as a high school senior, Paul chose to play for the
University of Wisconsin–Madison, and was named an
NCAA West All-American in 1988. He played his first NHL game in the
1991 season for the Penguins, and was a member of the
Stanley Cup winning team in 1991 and
1992. He was later traded to the
Boston Bruins and then to the
New York Islanders, playing parts of those seasons with each team's respective minor league teams. In 1995 and 1996 he played 13 matches for
Team USA at the
Ice Hockey World Championships, winning the bronze medal. In 1996 he left the NHL for Europe, playing in the
DEL for the
Adler Mannheim. With Mannheim he won the German championships in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Prior to the 2000–01 season, he became a member of the
Nürnberg Ice Tigers until 2002, when he started for the
Frankfurt Lions. He won another German championship as team captain of the heavy underdog Lions in 2004, after Frankfurt had eliminated three higher ranked clubs (
Cologne Sharks,
Hamburg Freezers and
Berlin Polar Bears) in the DEL playoffs. His most recent team has been
IF Redhawks Malmö of the
Swedish Elitserien. Paul Stanton currently resides in
Naples,
Florida and now serves as an assistant coach for the
Florida Gulf Coast University Hockey Team. ==Career statistics==