@dissentowner: I'm clearly talking about the development separately. Both have excelled in the AHL, which is the only comparison I'm making between their situations.
@FDW: I think we just have a philosophical difference. Personally, I don't understand how you value AHL time so much.
Perhaps I'm not giving "confidence and psychological aspects" enough weight. My argument is that Jankowski is 100% stagnated right now because there's nothing for him to learn in the AHL. Your argument is that Janko is better served in his current stagnant state than (possibly) lose all confidence on the 4th line. My argument is that if he excels in a 4th line role, he can easily move up the lineup, but we'll never know.
For Gillies or Rittich - sure, I can take the argument that if you're ultra conservative with your players, then this year could be another development year. However, I also don't agree with your assertion that Gillies should be our #1 next year. No other starter made it that way. Gibson, Vasilevskiy, Mrazek were all backups at one point, and even Carey Price split duties with Halak for multiple seasons.
Finally, in the cap world, if you can get 3 "AHL" level players like Jankowski on your 4th line that can contribute at a 3rd line level, you're laughing all the way to the cup. On the other hand, if you have Glass, Stajan, and Brouwer who play about as well as expected for 4th liners, you're breaking even at best.
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