In all honesty this boils down to the same conversation about prospects that always happens here. There's the optimistic group (Enoch/FDW and probably others) and then the pessimistic group.
For the optimists its always too soon to give up on prospects and we'd still be sitting here talking about Greg Neimsz finally coming around if he was still in the organization.
Its entirely possible the optimistic viewpoint could be right about Ferland. Jankowski is one guy who's taken a step forward this year after many of the pessimists have written him off.
On the whole though - the pessimists are right more often than not when it comes to prospects. Most players follow a normal development path and don't stall and then improve again. Even guys like Brodie, Gaudreau and Giordano who were late picks/undrafted guys were always looking good from the second they were drafted. Guys like Brodie/Gio were surprises at their early camps when they didn't make the teams and then succeeded in the AHL and then worked their way up in the NHL. Even when they were getting limited time, the vast majority here thought they looked good and deserved more ice time. Even Jankowksi is a guy who's improved every year since being drafted even if it was slower than most hoped at first.
A plateau or drop-off is a huge red-flag of the guy becoming anything more than a 3rd/4th line guy. Particularly when the player is 23 years old.
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