Quote:
Originally Posted by Regorium
I debated with FDW about this briefly in the backburner forum but curious what your thoughts are too.
In your opinion, why are 1st line AHL minutes better than 4th line NHL minutes?
We've seen our 4th line play against McDavid (god forbid) - no amount of AHL minutes will prepare you for that situation. Our 4th line will practice against NHL goaltenders/players, play at NHL speed, travel with Jagr and play against the best in the world.
In my opinion, the only way to determine whether Janko deserves 3rd, 2nd or even 1st line minutes is to have him in the NHL so we can see what happens when he gets stuck out against Crosby (maybe he dominates him, maybe he doesn't). You can't get a proper evaluation (especially for someone that's 23 years old) in the AHL.
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I think it's the reason why we had Hathaway called up the prior season. He's a 4th liner who brings energy and hits. Jankowski on the other hand should not be called up until an injury occurs in the top 9. We see the offensive potential that this guy has, I don't think 9 minutes would suit him well. The more he does FO's, the more ice time he receives in the AHL, the better off he will be in the NHL. I know it's not like that one for everyone, but we can see that Jankowski is proving everyone that he has pretty much dominated the AHL this season. We did have a spot for him (in my opinion), but we decided that Jagr would help us.
The way I see Jankowski in the lineup:
1) Injury to one of Backlund/Monahan/Bennett
2) Hamilton waived, Bennett shifts to LW on the 3rd line.
I think management is waiting for an injury to occur unfortunately. I don't think they want him just getting 4th line minutes. You can easily demote someone from the 3rd line and put Jankowski on the 3rd line, but I don't see management doing that.
FWIW, I want Jankowski in the lineup badly. But I'm not going to complain. We've been this patient, can't we be a tad more?