[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary

...you can look at it both ways; kid just being smart in his development or a kid that hesitant to engage immediately with a higher level of competition.

confidence is a huge thing with athletes, and if he and his advisors feel that another year of development is best for him, then you just gotta hang tight.

Based on his interviews and the assessment of his own coaches, I seriously doubt that he is hesitant to make the jump straight to NCAA because he lacks confidence. The kid himself stated rather matter-of-factly that he believes that he can be the best player in the draft; does that sound like a low confidence issue? He just seems to me to have a very practical and realistic outlook about his own abilities and development needs. Besides, something a number of people keep missing is that he does actually have some experience playing with elite level hockey players:

Originally Posted by New England Hockey Journal

"Skating on a line with Choate Rosemary Hall standout Ben Foster (Darien, Conn.), Jankowski gave opponents fits with his ability to generate quality scoring chances. He and Foster benefited from some instant chemistry, something that is rare in a tournament like the Beantown, where top players mostly from the New England area and Northeast are cobbled together.

'One of the main strengths of my game is my hockey sense,' Jankowski said. 'It was a little challenging when they just put guys on teams like that, but I to think we established some chemistry together. Being able to work with other players like Ben (Foster) is something I pride myself on, so I think we both enjoyed having the chance to skate together and open things up a bit.'"

That's a pretty encouraging report, especially with regards to his hockey sense, vision, and creativity.

Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary

I don't really buy the filling out part as the reason not to make the jump however...there's lots of under weight kids that make the jump to NCAA...of course, that's just my opinion.

That's fair, and to an extent, I agree. But if we can all agree that his current level of prep-school hockey is considerably lower than CHL and USHL, then I would also argue that making the incremental step to the next highest level prior to starting at an even higher level in NCAA Division I is a very sound decision in his case. Think about it like this: Most of the CHL players in this draft will be returning to the CHL. Jankowski is essentially returning to this same level to play in the Fall, which is entirely in line with his position selected at #21. Besides, he is the youngest player in the draft, and by the time he does start college, he will spend his entire freshman year as a 19-year-old. If he were seven or eight months older, it might be a different story, but given that he is so young, this is probably a good development track for him via the USHL.