Quote:
Originally Posted by ComixZone
After Bennett “failed” at centre, he stepped up and gave Jankowski a significantly better winger than He himself got to play with as a centre.
|
Really needs to be emphasised. For the vast majority of the season I don't think Jankowski either
a) Outplayed his linemate Bennett, 4 goal Vegas-no-show game aside
b) Showed anything at center that Bennett hasn't shown.
Personally I felt Jankowski had more defensive/transition/distribution struggles at C than Bennett. What Jankowski had was a linemate who was doing something offensively, and for a while even two when Jagr was around and then Hathaway had the temporary midas touch. Jankowski got a lot of "rookie" leeway despite being further along in his development.
One thing both players really struggled with was utilizing cross-ice passing to generate offense, especially on the rush. It's baffling that two very nice passers like these two had seemingly fewer cross-ice assists than Garnet Hathaway did - I can't help but see some issue in the messaging. I feel as a team last year we would rather have 3-4 shots with the goalie set than one dangerous chance backdoor on a goalie and it wasn't a player issue.