If it isn’t obvious to management yet, today should have shown them that Jankowski is an NHLer. Strong skater, protects the puck well, great offensive instincts, solid transitioning out of his own zone and has a surprising amount of finesse in his game for a big guy. There were some plays he made that were very ‘Johnny’ like. Very impressive performance compared to his first game last season.
He’s considerably more effective then a Freddie Hamilton or a possibly even a Matt Stajan at this point. He’s just going to get better and better once he gets use to the pace and his linemates. I think it’s definitely time to graduate him full time as we may finally have a 3rd line worthy of praise and If he can help make Sam Bennett look like that more often than not, then it’s a no-brainer because this could be the move that elevates this team into an elite one.
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