Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - [News] With the 21st overall pick Flames select C Mark Jankowski

Calgary4LIfe · 12-08-2015, 04:41 PM

I loved the Jankowski pick at the time and I still love it now.

At the time he was selected, without a doubt he was a 'project pick'. However, he also had the highest ceiling after Grigorenko dropped to #12 overall. Some may argue Teravainen had the highest ceiling, but he was always the 'small, highly talented center that may have to play wing in the NHL". Some may say Maatta - and though he looks like a legitimate top 4 young defencemen in the making (even ignoring his injury/health issues), a "Top line center potential" with size, skating and IQ to me is a much higher ceiling.

Another reason I really liked that pick was that it was a HUGE statement:

"The Calgary Flames are no longer a team that is trading futures in an attempt to win now. They are building through the draft."

I can understand why some people didn't like the Flames picking a project pick. I can understand their view of a pick having a higher potential of completely busting the longer the development is expected to take. I just loved the pick because it was a good shot at a potential #1 center - the position the Flames have historically had the most difficult in finding since Nieuwendyk was traded, and a position that is so rarely and usually very prohibitively expensive to trade for.

Any way you slice it, it really worked out well for the Flames. Flames entered a rebuild, so the 'project' stamp was relatively meaningless (busting aside), and they were not in a position any longer at competing when that pick was made anyways. By the time Jankowski enters the NHL (might be the end of this season, who knows) the Flames SHOULD be reaping an ELC on a very strong 2-way center with size and IQ to help them compete when it is starting to matter.

As for Weisbrod - I think what most people above are saying is fairly accurate. The whole "Not well liked in the hockey world" is also another thing I kept hearing.

Sieloff wasn't exactly a "Weisbrod pick". I think it was more a Button pick. Weisbrod just sold it quite a lot with his "We would have taken him in the 1st round if Jankowski was off the board at 21" comment. I remember in the interview after the draft, Button was asked that directly, and he responded with: "Well, Sieloff was there with some other guys we liked like Finn, and a few others".

Weisbrod just really sold almost every pick the Flames made in the drafts he was here for. I still remember the Kulak and Culkin thing - how astounded he was that they were both available and that he thought he would only get one. He made it sound like every player they selected from round 1 through 7 matched up exactly with their own internal rankings 1-7 of the best players overall in the entire draft.

Funny fact, though - he stated that Jankowski was going to be the best player from this draft years down the road, but Galchenyuk was ranked first overall (not Yakupov BTW) by the Flames. You know you had to take everything he said with a big grain of salt whenever he was talking about the prospects. I always liked listening to Button a LOT more about prospects - seems much more knowledgeable, and while he (of course) remains 'positive' about them, he doesn't exaggerate or make huge proclamations about their ceilings and how important this 'cornerstone' of the franchise is going to be.

12-08-2015, 04:41 PM	#2357
Calgary4LIfe Franchise Player Join Date: Jun 2010 Exp:	I loved the Jankowski pick at the time and I still love it now. At the time he was selected, without a doubt he was a 'project pick'. However, he also had the highest ceiling after Grigorenko dropped to #12 overall. Some may argue Teravainen had the highest ceiling, but he was always the 'small, highly talented center that may have to play wing in the NHL". Some may say Maatta - and though he looks like a legitimate top 4 young defencemen in the making (even ignoring his injury/health issues), a "Top line center potential" with size, skating and IQ to me is a much higher ceiling. Another reason I really liked that pick was that it was a HUGE statement: "The Calgary Flames are no longer a team that is trading futures in an attempt to win now. They are building through the draft." I can understand why some people didn't like the Flames picking a project pick. I can understand their view of a pick having a higher potential of completely busting the longer the development is expected to take. I just loved the pick because it was a good shot at a potential #1 center - the position the Flames have historically had the most difficult in finding since Nieuwendyk was traded, and a position that is so rarely and usually very prohibitively expensive to trade for. Any way you slice it, it really worked out well for the Flames. Flames entered a rebuild, so the 'project' stamp was relatively meaningless (busting aside), and they were not in a position any longer at competing when that pick was made anyways. By the time Jankowski enters the NHL (might be the end of this season, who knows) the Flames SHOULD be reaping an ELC on a very strong 2-way center with size and IQ to help them compete when it is starting to matter. As for Weisbrod - I think what most people above are saying is fairly accurate. The whole "Not well liked in the hockey world" is also another thing I kept hearing. Sieloff wasn't exactly a "Weisbrod pick". I think it was more a Button pick. Weisbrod just sold it quite a lot with his "We would have taken him in the 1st round if Jankowski was off the board at 21" comment. I remember in the interview after the draft, Button was asked that directly, and he responded with: "Well, Sieloff was there with some other guys we liked like Finn, and a few others". Weisbrod just really sold almost every pick the Flames made in the drafts he was here for. I still remember the Kulak and Culkin thing - how astounded he was that they were both available and that he thought he would only get one. He made it sound like every player they selected from round 1 through 7 matched up exactly with their own internal rankings 1-7 of the best players overall in the entire draft. Funny fact, though - he stated that Jankowski was going to be the best player from this draft years down the road, but Galchenyuk was ranked first overall (not Yakupov BTW) by the Flames. You know you had to take everything he said with a big grain of salt whenever he was talking about the prospects. I always liked listening to Button a LOT more about prospects - seems much more knowledgeable, and while he (of course) remains 'positive' about them, he doesn't exaggerate or make huge proclamations about their ceilings and how important this 'cornerstone' of the franchise is going to be.