Late last month, Red Line's chief scout and Boston area scout attended the Beantown Spring Classic showcase event to review the top New England prospects, but more important to get several more viewings on draft wild card Mark Jankowski.
Much like Shore, the only thing holding Jankowski back from a very high ranking is the difficulty involved in projecting players who have performed at the very lowest competition levels. Jankowski, whose family is from the Toronto area, spent this season at Stanstead College, essentially a college prep school in Quebec's Eastern Townships region, in preparation for entering Providence College next season.
Stanstead's level of competition is so low it doesn't even register on the meter, so not surprisingly, Jankowski is the rawest of raw products in this draft. Playing against some reasonable competition at the Beantown, it was clear that he has the skills to translate to the next level. Where his inexperience shows up is that he doesn't understand positioning or what it takes to compete hard every shift.
As a Sept. 13 birthday, he's one of the youngest players available this year, and that plays in his favor since he presumably has even more development left in him than most others in this class. And already has a lean, projectable frame at 6-2, 175 pounds, to go along with superb natural athleticism and balance.
Given how few skilled forwards there are in this year's crop, someone is going to take a chance on him — and we suspect quite high. Given that his uncle is former New York Islanders chief scout and current Montreal talent hound Ryan Jankowski, we think it's a fair bet the Canadiens will gamble one of their two second-round picks on him. Given the kid's outstanding skating ability and super soft, quick hands, it will be a good gamble.
