Jankowski brings hope for the future
Centreman rare positive for Calgary during team’s dismal end to the season
Among the many things that Calgary Flames rookie Mark Jankowski learned in his first season in The Show was a catchphrase.
His coach uses it often.
The 23-year-old centre has clearly been listening.
“It’s an everyday league,” Jankowski said.
One of the positive developments during a frustrating campaign in Flames Country, Jankowski is now an everyday NHLer.
The season didn’t start out that way, but he was summoned Oct. 23 after a scorching start in the minors and has certainly seen the last of Stockton, Calif., home to the American Hockey League’s Heat.
Heading into Saturday’s finale against the visiting Vegas Golden Knights (8 p.m., Sportsnet West, Sportsnet 960 The Fan), Jankowski has logged 71 outings this winter at the highest level, totalling 13 goals, eight helpers and sitting twice as a healthy scratch.
The Flames’ third-line centre is currently sweating through a nine-game point drought, but he deserved an assist when he sprung Michael Frolik for a breakaway in the early stages of Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the Jets in Winnipeg. Frolik couldn’t beat Connor Hellebuyck with a glove-side shot.
“He just has to learn to be consistent at this level,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan, teeing up a familiar message. “He can certainly play at this level. He has all the attributes. He has everything to play at this level — he has the hockey IQ, he has enough speed, he has size. But he needs to know it’s an everyday league. That’s what he’s going to take out of this season and that’s what he needs to take.
“When you look at it, he probably had the year you’d expect from a guy that you brought in 10 games in. He had a great start. He dipped a little bit like any young guy would. And now, to me, towards the end, he’s starting to come again.
“It’s hard to be good every night. But when we sit back and we can clear our heads a little bit from the season, he’s got 13 goals. That’s a good platform to build from. When the consistency comes, he can certainly build on that.”
Consistency tops the wish list for most young ’uns in the NHL and for a lot of the older guys, too.
Remember, it was several seasons before Flames centre Mikael Backlund — now at 29 considered a core piece and locked up to a sixyear contract extension — found that groove.
There have been times the Flames implored Jankowski to be more assertive, to make better use of his size and his reach. There were times the six-foot-four, 202-pound pivot received an earful for being a bit too cute with the puck on his stick.
There were times that the only message from his bosses was more of that, please.
“First of all, he should be happy with (his season),” said Flames assistant general manager Craig Conroy, who accumulated 1,009 games of know-how as an NHL centre and was relatively new to the front-office ranks when Calgary’s contingent made Jankowski its first-round draft choice in 2012, stressing right away this was a long-term project.
“Now we need him to keep taking more steps. We need him to push Backlund. We need him to push (Sean) Monahan. That’s what makes teams really good is when those guys are pushing, when they’re not just happy with, ‘Hey, great, I’m the third- or fourth-line guy.’ They have to want to be the first- or second-line guy. You always want them trying to get to that next level.
“I think with the things he’s done this year and how he’s progressed, it’s put him on the right path. He needs to have a huge summer. I don’t want him to stall at this point. I want him to keep going. That’s the key to his success and our success.”
Way back in the fall, before so much seemed to go sideways for the Flames, one of the question marks around the Saddledome was whether Jankowski had the chops to be a full-timer.
He’s shown he does.
The next challenge is to show it more and more often.
After all, it’s an everyday league. Jankowski had heard that. Now he’s experienced it. “I think getting that first year under my belt helps me a lot,” Jankowski said. “One of my goals going into this year was to make the team and to be an impact player. There’s obviously room for growth. Everyone wants to get better. You never want to be complacent.”