Quote:
Originally Posted by nik-
First: Why was it a good gamble? We aren't a team that can afford to gamble with first round picks and he was playing in a BS league. Please tell me why he was a good gamble? Because of some his "skillset" which shows up in rare flashes. Two or three times a season we get a youtube clip?
Second: What does "turn out just fine" mean to you? Because I think if turning out just fine means a top 2 center to you, then it's likely that you're going to be disappointed.
Please someone resell me on this kid with evidence, not hype, because I really really want him to work out. This organization cannot afford a DNF on a first round pick.
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It's a good gamble because normally you can't get a big top two line centre outside of the top 5-10. The only way to do it is to have an insane draft (see 2003 with Getzlaf, etc) or draft somebody out of a lesser known area (see Kopitar not getting draft top 5-10 due to being Slovenian) or just to get insanely lucky. Jankowski has the size, skill and skating to turn into a top two line centre.
You do realize that at least half of 1st rounders taken in the second half end up busting right? Maybe you don't because many seem to expect surefire NHLers when the draft doesn't work like that except in the deepest of draft years.
I think he certainly still has top two line centre potential. I think many in this thread are making the mistake of not realizing that he could have gone to the USHL, put up gaudy numbers there, then moved to college and he'd only be a freshman this season. In fact that was his original plan. The new plan where he moved to college earlier than most players do was always going to make his numbers look worse for the first couple years. If he went the USHL route most fans would probably feel happier about the pick because he would've dominated there and this season we'd be able to write off because he was adapting to college hockey and his numbers wouldn't be as big of a deal.
But he ended up going straight into college at an age younger than most players do. He did so straight from a very low level league and did okay. That is promising. What's funny is that people instead think that is disappointing because they are so focused on the numbers.
I watched the kid in development camp and he shows more than just a flash once or twice a season as your hyperbolic statement suggested. He didn't look miles behind Monahan in that camp when I watched both closely.
IMO we really aren't really able to read too much into his numbers yet. He was a project and remains so. As others have pointed out his team is not the most offensive team in the league. People need to suck it up, have some patience and wait and see how his junior and then senior years work out. He's far from a bust and seems to be on track when you realize that a lot of players start college a year or two later then he did.
And of course there's the fact that he was one of the youngest kids in his draft year, only being a month or so older than Monahan?
Some of you should play a little mental trick to adjust your expectations on Jankowski. Pretend he went to the USHL last year and this is instead his freshman year. Then judge his numbers.