[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I remember quite a lot of the background on the Jankowski pick, actually. I want to preface this by saying that I was actually quite relieved when Burke fired Weisbrod, and I want to be clear on that because this next part will come off as very "Pro" Weisbrod.


That Blizzard story was the first time (IIRC) that anyone on the Flames saw Jankowski. Weisbrod loved him right away, and thought of him as the next Niuwendyk. You remember that part of the story accurately.


The next part is where i find it interesting and where I seem to be pro-Weisbrod. He had every Calgary Flames North American scout view Jankowski at least once, though I believe most did it more than once. Story goes that everyone really liked Jankowski. They also scouted the stands (and I imagine most teams probably do this as well) to see what other teams were really interested in Jankowski. That's why they were comfortable dropping down to where they eventually picked him. I actually liked this about Weisbrod - not only for Jankowski, but apparently he made the area scouts gets eyes into one another's areas and get second opinions. Seemed like a shrewd thing to do that made me wonder why they weren't doing it already in the first place.


To add a bit more to this story, the post draft stuff that you probably know already, but I might as well add:


1) Weisbrod publicly proclaiming him as the next Nieuwendyk
2) Feaster proclaiming him as the best player in the draft, but also weirdly giving FULL credit to Weisbrod, and almost insisting it was 'HIS' pick, rather than "our" pick.
3) Button talking about Jankowski and being much more conservative with his thoughts, specifically saying that 'we all saw him and like him, but he is really raw".


One more tidbit was Button talking about scouting a player in a situation where he is playing in a much lower league. He says it is more difficult accurately scouting a player in that situation, and it takes a lot of experience to get a proper book on a player in that circumstance, and that only very experienced scouting staffs are able to do it.



I think the weirdest thing about it all was how he was tracking so well in his first pro season in the AHL, followed by his first NHL rookie season where he goes on to score 17 really skilled goals (no lucky goals is what I mean - they were all "goal scorers' goals"). Then he gets 14 the next season, but this time a handful of lucky ones (including his first of the season which IIRC was a Jagr shot that hit him in the back before going in), but he had 10 more assists than his previous season. He is no longer a regular NHL'er.


However, he is killing it in the AHL - he is 3rd in the AHL (in both points and points per game) behind only Stankoven and Bourque (the kids from the Dallas organization). He recently got recalled by Nashville, and has played 6 games and generated 1 goal. I still hope he finds his way as an NHL'er, but I just don't know why he looked legitimately good in his rookie season, but then things went south.

Like Colbourne, IMO it comes down to consistency of intensity and effort on the ice.

I thought Janko was going to beat our negative expectations and turn into a 2nd line centre, and IMO his first two NHL seasons were better than Backlund's as a comparable. The frustration was exponentially augmented by the whole draft situation and scenario. Very strange player.