[News] With the 21st overall pick Flames select C Mark Jankowski

[EddyBeers]

If anyone wants an actual comparison for an individual player who played both USHL and CHL you can look at Sam Gagner.

As a 16 year old in the USHL he put up 0.82 PPG

As a 17 year old in the CHL he put up 2.23 PPG

http://eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=10425

USHL and CHL are very comparable leagues. Playing a year in the USHL is literally the same thing as going and playing in the CHL.

Another example is Tinordi with the London Knights, be went from being a top dman in the USHL to a top Dman in the CHL.

This kid is going to play a year in the USHL and then probably two at Providence and then make the jump to pro.

[SebC]

^ Both your examples progressed from the USHL to the CHL... doesn't that imply CHL is a step up?

[Savvy27]

I'm kind of nervous about that contract loophole. Knowing what they know about what happened with Justin Schultz, I'm surprised that the Flames wouldn't be pushing heavily for him to straight to the NCAA.

[Svensational]

Not everyone ditches on the team who put their faith in them.. it's the same thing as not every Russian bolting to the KHL. You don't avoid something entirely based on something that is highly variable and individualistic.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary

well, there's a lot of young kids that play in the CHL at his age and even younger.

It's obviously a calculated decision on his part not to go to providence straight away...you can look at it both ways; kid just being smart in his development or a kid that hesitant to engage immediately with a higher level of competition.

confidence is a huge thing with athletes, and if he and his advisors feel that another year of development is best for him, then you just gotta hang tight.

I don't really buy the filling out part as the reason not to make the jump however...there's lots of under weight kids that make the jump to NCAA...of course, that's just my opinion.

Its not just his weight though, its his overall maturity and being able to catch up with his growth spurt of 8" in the last 18 months....that is an incredible change at a very young age, and will just take some time to get used to. Better to do so against similar aged guys in JR rather than against some seriously big men at the NCAA level.

No idea if the guy pans out or not, but he is quite clearly a ways away from the show, so i have no problem with him taking baby steps in his development rather than jumping into the fire too soon.

[EddyBeers]

Originally Posted by SebC

^ Both your examples progressed from the USHL to the CHL... doesn't that imply CHL is a step up?

No, it implies that they decided not to go the NCAA route. Any rudimentary look at players on NHL rosters right now will show you two things:

1) The CHL dominates 1st and 2nd round picks. These are the guys who make the NHL out of the CHL. The vast majority of players taken from the CHL in the first and second round were always great players (put up great numbers in pee wee, bantam, were high bantam draft picks) and then the CHL gets them and they continue to be great players.

2) The majority of players who make the NHL and become impact players that were drafted after the 2nd round come from the NCAA. This is because the NCAA is a developmental program. While they may not be able to claim they developed "Sidney Crosby" like the CHL does they have a lot of Pavelski's, Boyle;s, etc.

It depends on your development path. The other reason it is a one way street is that once you go CHL you can never go back to the NCAA route.

[HighLifeMan]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Right....so in fact he is planning on playing college hockey.

Not sure why it is a bad move to play a year of junior first...he has a LOT of filling out to do and is only 17 years old.

Exactly. It certainly was not a bad move for Zemgus Girgensons to play in Dubuque this past season.

[sun]

Well everyone wanted a high reward pick, a big forward, a potential first line C. Hopefully Jankowski will progress over the next few years and eventually become that player.

Myself, I am nervous to see how this will all play out. I'm also much too impatient to wait and see!

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by HighLifeMan

Exactly. It certainly was not a bad move for Zemgus Girgensons to play in Dubuque this past season.

He didn't have a choice though. He wasn't old enough for university and playing in the CHL would've ended his NCAA eligibility.

[Bonded]

Yeah, I would preferred Zegmus or TT

[HighLifeMan]

Originally Posted by opendoor

He didn't have a choice though. He wasn't old enough for university and playing in the CHL would've ended his NCAA eligibility.

Either way it did not hurt his draft stock, and the level of competition was not held against him whatsoever. Since Jankowski is 9 months younger than Zemgus, you could essentially compare what he will do next season in Dubuque (should he go that route) to what Girgensons was able to accomplish over the course of this past season.

[Savvy27]

I don't see it as a big deal at all. I'd rather see him go and be a big star in a good league, than get stuck playing a checking or energy role in a better league.

[Jables16]

I will say I was a bit upset at first that the Flames had passed over Maata after having traded down. I would have been happy with Maata at 14 but to have gotten him at 21 and a second rounder out of it would be teriffic.

However I do like the fact that they were certain enough about Jankowski to make this move as it really does have home run potential. Maata would have been the safe move when a large portion of the fan base have been clamoring for the Flames to take more chances with their draft picks.

The fact that his playing style and career path are similar to Joe Nieuwendyk's is a nice little coincidence as well...

[getbak]

Behind the scenes with Jankowski at the Draft.

I love the part at the end when he's showing off the jersey to his family and says "Everyone else's is velcroed, but this is stitched on. They wanted me. I was their guy the whole time."

Also, the bit where the guy says he doesn't know whose smile is bigger between Weisbrod and Jankowski is great. That was something I kept noticing last night, Weisbrod was just beaming.

[Split98]

I like the risk a lot, but it is a little tained with Maatta still on the board.

If he develops quickly, we could have a very very solid center on our hands. And if we do, imagine how great the Flames scouting staff will look. I, along with the rest of you, am getting very sick of hearing how terrible our prospect group is. Having a genius steal would certainly eliminate that stigma.

But this year is the year of Sven. And having a kid to get excited about is something we haven't had in a very very very long time. So it's not like we NEEDED someone to make an impact this year, because with Cammalleri starting the year at C you have to think that the #1 C position is locked up. Backlund will hopefully be pushing for the #2 C position, so we were really hoping that Girgensons was going to push for #3 right?

I'm ok with a high risk high reward type to blossom over the next 2-5 years opposed to a 'play-now' kid we'll be grinding out on the 3-4 lines (or pushing Backlund further back).

Edit: I also forgot about Cervenka. I'm actually quite alright with the Flames top 3 C at the moment. As much as I won't be opposed to upgrading, I'm not spitting venom that we need a C right now. This is all assuming that a full offseason of C focus will work well with Cammalleri. With his intelligence and work ethic, I'm not worried about him.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by getbak

Behind the scenes with Jankowski at the Draft.

I love the part at the end when he's showing off the jersey to his family and says "Everyone else's is velcroed, but this is stitched on. They wanted me. I was their guy the whole time.".

Awesome

[moon]

Originally Posted by EddyBeers

2) The majority of players who make the NHL and become impact players that were drafted after the 2nd round come from the NCAA. This is because the NCAA is a developmental program. While they may not be able to claim they developed "Sidney Crosby" like the CHL does they have a lot of Pavelski's, Boyle;s, etc.

This is not true at all.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Its not just his weight though, its his overall maturity and being able to catch up with his growth spurt of 8" in the last 18 months....that is an incredible change at a very young age, and will just take some time to get used to. Better to do so against similar aged guys in JR rather than against some seriously big men at the NCAA level.

Except that those similarly aged guys are also less skilled. Okay, so Jankowski needs to fill out his frame, and that's a temporary competitive disadvantage vs NCAA players. But if he's otherwise better than them (and as a 1st round pick , he damn well should be) then the NCAA may be a more appropriate level of competition than the USHL.

[DatSOOKin]

Originally Posted by getbak

Behind the scenes with Jankowski at the Draft.

I love the part at the end when he's showing off the jersey to his family and says "Everyone else's is velcroed, but this is stitched on. They wanted me. I was their guy the whole time."

Also, the bit where the guy says he doesn't know whose smile is bigger between Weisbrod and Jankowski is great. That was something I kept noticing last night, Weisbrod was just beaming.

I love it. That video gets me almost as excited for the future as last year with Sven's draft day interviews.

And to the people questioning why a team would draft a player from high school, isn't that a testament of just how promising he looks to the Flames organization's scouts? I mean if players do in-fact rarely get drafted from high school, it must really show the scouting staff saw something unique and special in this kid to take him in the first round.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Matt Pelech?

What are you talking about?

Matt Pelech was out playing street hockey on his draft day due to the weirdness that was the 2005 draft.