Quote:
Originally Posted by Duffalufagus
I'm adjusting my expectations for Jankowski. no points in his last 6 games. Just not good enough. He is part of the secondary scoring problem along with Bennett. I have no expectations for Hathaway, because he just isn't very talented offensively.
Janko will be a 20 gaol guy in this league. I just thought it might be this year. Now I would be happy with 13. which is not good enough if you want to be contender.
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This seems to me to be incredibly premature. I can only think anyone would be disappointed with Jankowski if they somehow thought he would just insert himself into the NHL and instantly start to dominate. Well, the League does not work that way, and Jankowski's regular season production in his rookie year should probably not be used to gauge long-term success for the team.
But even then, it would not be unheard of for a player like Jankowski to figure things out as the season progresses and to become a difference maker as soon as this year's playoffs. Ryan Getzlaf had 14 goals and 39 points in his rookie year, and followed that up with a good playoff and a 57-point season in his second year. That year he became absolutely dominant in Anaheim's run to the Stanley Cup, and then he never looked back.
Jankowski is not as good a player as Getzlaf, and he is learning to play in this League at an older age than Getzlaf. But I think the analogue holds—at least for now. Jankowski still shows so much potential, and I think it is a mistake to defer that or limit our anticipation of it on the basis of a rough stretch of games. He is a rookie. An older rookie, but a rookie nonetheless, and practically all rookies are going to take time adjusting to the exceptionally difficult task of playing in the NHL, especially as the playoff-grind approaches.