Jankowski’s younger brother at camp
Mark’s younger brother is looking to make impression at development camp
This is not some sort of favour from the Calgary Flames.
As David Jankowski aims to impress as a tryout invitee to summer development camp, his standout sibling wanted to make that clear.
“It has nothing to do with me. I didn’t go to anyone or say anything,” stressed Flames centre Mark Jankowski. “They just came to me and said, ‘Hey, we’re looking at bringing your brother in for development camp.’ And I said, ‘Oh, that’s great. He’d love it. It would be a great experience for him.’
“He’s definitely earned his way here, and it’s good to see him being rewarded in this way. It was really exciting for me when I heard.”
There are not a lot of familiar names on the roster-sheet at the Flames’ annual summer shindig, especially among the free-agent tryouts.
This is an exception. In fact, while David was sweating through drills Friday, there was a Jankowski jersey spotted in the stands at WinSport’s Markin MacPhail Centre.
Later, as the 21-year-old centre chatted with reporters, the young fan in the No. 77 road whites patiently waited for his autograph.
“I just said, ‘I see you’re a fan of my brother,’ and he was pretty excited,” David said. “Around here, obviously a lot of people know my brother’s name. But I try not to look at it (as pressure), just try to go out here and do my own thing.
“You can’t really put too much pressure on yourself in these type of situations or you’ll just make everything harder. I’ll just try to carve my own path and do what I can.”
Mark completed his climb from first-round reach — there was a lot of ‘off-the-board’ chatter when the Flames selected the lanky high-schooler in the opening round of the 2012 NHL Draft — to big-league regular last winter, capping his breakthrough campaign with a four-snipe night in the regular-season finale. The 23-year-old pivot totalled 17 tallies and eight assists in 72 appearances as a rookie and has no doubt established himself as a full-timer at the Saddledome.
David, meanwhile, was the Central Canada Hockey League’s scoring champion during the 2017-18 slate, racking up 38 goals and 90 points in 60 outings for the Junior A Hawkesbury Hawks.
The 6-foot-1, 170-lb. forward has committed to join the NCAA’s Saint Lawrence University Saints this fall.
“He’s a skilled player,” Mark said, serving up a scouting report on his kid brother. “He’s a goal scorer. He has a good shot but he likes to make plays, too. He has good vision and hockey sense. He likes to use his teammates.
“I think it’s pretty similar to my game. He’s maybe an inch or two shorter than me. But other than that. I think we’re pretty similar.”
Now, the siblings and off-season training partners have something else in common.
Mark, who earned a degree — and an NCAA championship ring — with the Providence College Friars before turning professional, made five consecutive trips to Flames development camp.
David, assigned No. 46 this week, is getting his first taste.
“I asked him a bunch of questions before I came,” David said. “Mostly, he just said, ‘Watch out for the bike test in the fitness testing.’ But we already got that out of the way, so it was OK.
“He just said, ‘Go in there with a good attitude and don’t be afraid to show what you do. Don’t take a back seat, just try to jump right in and show what you can do.’ ”
After all, as Mark emphasized, the Flames must like what they ’ve seen so far.
This isn’t a famous favour. “I think I deserve to be here,” David said. “I think I had a great year, and now I’m here and I’m just trying to make the most of it.”
ICE CHIPS
Thursday’s arbitration filings didn’t cause any shock waves at the Saddledome. One day after five of the Flames’ restricted freeagents — trade acquisition Elias Lindholm, fellow forwards Mark Jankowski and Garnet Hathaway, blue-liner Brett Kulak and backup goalie David Rittich — submitted the paperwork, Flames GM Brad Treliving told reporters there were “no surprises” on that list. Arbitration hearings will be scheduled sometime between July 20-Aug. 4, leaving plenty of time to negotiate. “It played out exactly how we were expecting,” Treliving said. “And our expectation is we’ll continue to work at it and expect to get deals done with all of them at some point, whether it be now or through the arbitration process. We’re continuing to work at those and hopefully we’ll have good news sooner rather than later.”
IthinkIhada greatyear,and now I’m here and I’m just trying to make the most of it.