With next to nothing happening in the hockey world this month, I thought this would be as good of a time as any to profile members of the Calgary Flames.
I'll be commenting on their performances last season as well as projected role and expectations moving forward. I've profiled 16 Flames thus far, with Travis Hamonic being the most recent.
Today we're going to take a closer look at Mark Jankowski.
Counting stats: 79 games played, 32 points (14 goals, 18 assists), 12:42 average time on ice
5v5 underlyings: 1.63 points/60, -3.32 CF% Rel, -13.27 GF% Rel, -1.06 xGF% Rel, 0.982 PDO
2018-19 review: Jankowski's relative numbers weren't great – not surprising given a) the Flames were fantastic so there was a high bar to clear and; b) he is not a play driver – but his individual outputs were. At least considering the usage. It's hard to ask for more than 14 goals and 32 points from a player logging fewer than 13 minutes per night, especially when some of that ice is on the PK. As you'd expect, Jankowski was fairly efficient. He actually recorded more points/60 at 5v5 than Anze Kopitar, Mike Hoffman, Derek Stepan and Mikael Granlund, among other notables. You take that all day long from a bottom-6er whose most common linemate was...James Neal!
Among regular Flames penalty killers, Jankowski ranked 2nd on the team in attempts against/60 and 1st in expected goals against/60. He was excellent defensively, which is kind of surprising given that's not really the case at 5v5, and as threatening offensively as anyone while down a man.
Fun fact(s): Jankowski finished 2nd to only Michael Grabner in shorthanded goals (5) and points (8). No player recorded more high-danger chances (10).
2019-20 outlook: The Flames were very successful last season and there hasn't been much roster turnover. As such, a lot of players are good bets to be used similarly – if not identically – to how they were a season ago. I think Jankowski fits that bill. He will mostly rotate with Derek Ryan on the 3rd/4th lines while seeing regular ice on the PK. Perhaps even more than a season ago. He can also take some reps on PP2 if/when the Flames inevitably run into some injuries. I do think it's a realistic possibility we see a small dip in production. He just doesn't see a ton of ice and I wouldn't bet on PK production propping him up to the same extent.
numbers via naturalstattrick.com and hockey-reference.com Recent posts: