Todd Button talked about the selection after the draft. He stated that Jankowski is a tough prospect to scout because of where he was playing. Some scouts will have a tougher time to see if he is just a decent prospect in a horrible league, or if he is an 'a' class prospect in a horrible league.
I believe the Flames sent their entire scouting department at different intervals to continually keep eyes on him and get a good book on him. I believe at least one Flames' scout watched Jankowski play every single game starting before the half-way point of the season, IIRC. They felt that after doing so for a long period of time, they were confident that he was a very good prospect. They then went and drafted him.
This wasn't simply a 'hail mary' gamble. They felt he was the best available prospect. Does that mean he was the best player at the time? No. They felt he was a very good prospect who will develop into a very good player (project status) in time.
It isn't like the Flames were saying: "Ok, we can draft a guy that will definitely play for us in some reduced capacity as a bottom line forward or a bottom pairing defender, or we can gamble and hope we get a 1st line center even though it is a one-in-a-million chance. Let's gamble!!"
They scouted Jankowski diligently. For a long period of time. I believe it was EVERY SINGLE scout. Whether or not you feel it was the wrong pick is besides the point. The Flames were not 'gambling'. They took who they felt would develop into the best player (hence Feaster's stupid remarks after that draft).
One thing that I liked about Weisbrod was (though the Flames seemed to be doing so with late round picks already) that he wanted each and every pick to count. He wanted the Flames to scout each and every pick well, and not hope for a miracle. I doubt very much that he would gamble the pick.
You, me and the rest of the world might feel it is a 'gamble' pick that the Flames are really hoping it works out, but to the Flames they diligently scouted Jankowski, and felt that he would have one of the better careers (not the best as Feaster stupidly blurted out at the draft, especially when it was leaked that the Flames had Galchenyuk ranked 1st) from that draft.
If the Jankowski pick fails, it is because the Flames were wrong about the pick, and you have to question their scouting department a bit more after that. However, if Jankowski indeed does not pan out, it wasn't because the 'gamble' failed. There was no gambling about it.
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