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Mark Jankowski

Nashville Predators Sign Mark Jankowski

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The Nashville Predators announced they have signed Mark Jankowski to a contract extension. The team also said it is a one-year contract with a cap hit of $775K which is a slight raise on the $750K he earns this season. Of note, the minimum salary for NHL players rises from $750K to $775K next season, so Jankowski effectively remains on a minimum contract.

The 28-year-old is in his first season with the Predators, scoring five goals and eight points in 32 games. He also added ten points in nine AHL games when he was sent down to the Milwaukee Admirals. This signing will provide a little stability for Jankowski who has played for four different organizations in the past four seasons.

The 6-foot-4 center was originally a first-round pick of the Calgary Flames in 2012. He played four full college seasons at Providence before finally turning pro, but never lived up to the draft billing in Calgary. His best season was in 2018-19 when he scored 14 goals and 32 points. He has since played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres as well as the Predators.

With just over 300 games played in the NHL, Jankowski does provide some veteran experience for the Predators who are transitioning from perennial playoff contender to seller status. They traded Mikael Granlund, Mattias Ekholm and Nino Niederreiter at the trade deadline and appear to be entering a bit of a retooling phase.

Jankowski will provide some bottom six depth for the team for another season at a low cap hit as the Predators try to turn themselves back into a playoff team in the near future.

Mark Jankowski Clears Waivers

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Feb 21: Jankowski has cleared and can now be returned to the minor leagues.

Feb 20: The Nashville Predators have placed Mark Jankowski on waivers, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Jankowski cleared at the beginning of the season but would need to again before being assigned to the minor leagues.

The 28-year-old forward was scratched for yesterday’s game against the Minnesota Wild and hasn’t been in the lineup for a week now, as the team leans on younger options in the bottom six. If the club wanted to add another player to the roster, they need to send someone down, as they are currently carrying the limit of 23. Jankowski seems a reasonable bet to clear, again, given his lack of production the last several years, so he is likely headed back to the Milwaukee Admirals.

With just seven points this season, the 2012 first-round pick seems ages away from the 32-point campaign he recorded in 2018-19 with the Calgary Flames.The big-bodied forward hasn’t been able to establish himself as much of a contributor ever since, racking up just 30 total points in the four years since.

Nashville is an interesting team to watch at deadline time, given their struggles this season, aging veterans on big contracts, and limited cap space moving forward. At some point they will likely have to dismantle some of the core they have built. Whether that comes in the next two weeks, or in the summer, remains to be seen. Jankowski getting waived over some of the other waiver-exempt options might be the first sign that they are ready to transition to a younger group on a regular basis.

Nashville Predators Recall Mark Jankowski

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After Kiefer Sherwood cleared waivers, the Nashville Predators made an interesting roster swap. Mark Jankowski has been recalled from the AHL, with Sherwood going down in his place.

Jankowski, 28, was once a regular in the NHL, scoring 31 goals and 57 points over his first two seasons with the Calgary Flames. The first-round pick appeared to be a solid middle-six forward that could chip in offensively and use his 6’4″ frame to add some physicality.

It’s been several years since that was the case though, and Jankowski spent more time last season in the minor leagues than in the NHL. This year he settled for a one-year, two-way contract with the Predators that came with a huge minor league guarantee, suggesting that he would be spending most of his time with the Milwaukee Admirals.

Now, after scoring five goals and nine points in his first seven AHL games, Jankowski will join the big club as an extra forward. Whether he gets another chance to get his NHL career back on track remains to be seen but he couldn’t have done much more for Milwaukee to begin his year.

Nashville Predators Sign Kevin Lankinen, Three Others

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The Nashville Predators supplemented their NHL/AHL fringe depth on defense yesterday, and they’re doing the same today on offense. The team announced a trio of signings separately on Thursday afternoon, signing Kiefer Sherwood to a one-year, one-way $750K contract, and Mark Jankowski and Cole Smith to one-year, two-way $750K contracts. They also signed former Chicago Blackhawks netminder Kevin Lankinen to a one-year, $1.5MM contract to back up starter Juuse Saros.

Despite Nashville receiving strong play from Connor Ingram in limited regular-season appearances and even turning to him as a starter in the playoffs over David Rittich, the team’s opted to bury him on the depth chart for another season. Lankinen had a rough season with the Blackhawks in 2021-22 after an up-and-down rookie campaign the year prior, finishing the year with an 8-15-6 record, 3.50 goals against average, and .891 save percentage. He’ll look to improve on those numbers (and stay healthy) on a more fortified Nashville team.

Sherwood, Jankowski, and Smith will be charged with playing top AHL roles once again, something they’re getting used to in their careers. Sherwood and Jankowski especially will be strong call-up options in case of injury with decent amounts of NHL experience.

Mark Jankowski Clears Waivers

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March 16: Jankowski has cleared and can now be re-assigned to the AHL.

March 15: The Buffalo Sabres have placed Mark Jankowski on waivers today, according to Chris Johnston of TSN. The move suggests that Zemgus Girgensons is ready to return from injured reserve.

It seems like a decade ago that Jankowski broke out with 17 goals as a rookie, even though it was actually in 2017-18. The 27-year-old forward has fallen off a cliff since then, and has been a healthy scratch for the Sabres over the last few weeks. With just two goals and five points this season, his totals from the past three seasons combined reach just 11 and 23, coming as a part of three different teams.

Now on waivers for the first time in his career, there will be an easy way to tell what kind of value the rest of the league places on the 2012 first-round pick. Jankowski is signed to just a one-year, two-way contract that carries an NHL cap hit of just $750K, one that he didn’t even ink until partway through the season. If there was anyone looking for a depth addition who can play both center and wing, there’s no financial reason why they couldn’t claim him.

Still, given his play so far and the fact that he can’t get into the Buffalo lineup, it seems more likely that he’ll clear and be sent to the minor leagues. Before signing the NHL deal in November, he had 12 points in 13 games for the Rochester Americans.

East Notes: Zaitsev, Canadiens, Shesterkin, Sabres, Daley

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The Senators will be without defenseman Nikita Zaitsev longer than expected as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relays (Twitter link) that the veteran hasn’t resumed skating and will likely be out through the end of the month.  Originally, it was expected that he’d miss between three and five weeks due to his heel injury but that will now likely be pushed to six weeks or longer.  The 30-year-old had gotten off to a quiet start to his season with just two points in 22 games while logging 18:32 per night, the lowest ATOI of his career.

More from the Eastern Conference:

  • As a result of seven more players entering COVID protocols in recent days, the Canadiens announced that they are extending their pause for two more days through Saturday. Montreal recently had a game next week against New Jersey postponed and now have nine games that need to be rescheduled.  They’re next scheduled to play on Wednesday against Boston.
  • Still with Montreal, defensive prospect Arber Xhekaj was traded in the OHL as the Hamilton Bulldogs announced his acquisition in exchange for five draft picks along with winger Navrin Mutter. Xhekaj was undrafted in both the OHL and NHL but turned a rookie camp tryout into an entry-level contract with the Canadiens late in the preseason.  Meanwhile, Mutter got into three games with Calgary’s farm team in Stockton last season but no team holds his NHL rights.
  • Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin was a late scratch for their game against Vegas as the Rangers announced (Twitter link) that the netminder was placed into COVID protocol. Assuming it’s for a confirmed positive test, he’ll be out for at least the next five days.  Keith Kinkaid was recalled from the taxi squad in a corresponding roster move.
  • The Sabres got some good news on the COVID protocol front today as the team announced (Twitter link) prior to their game against San Jose that centers Dylan Cozens, Zemgus Girgensons, and Mark Jankowski were all cleared to return. The trio last played on December 17th and each missed three games.
  • While the Florida Everblades of the ECHL raised some eyebrows today when they announced the signing of Penguins staffer Trevor Daley, Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review notes (Twitter link) that Daley will remain in his advisory role with Pittsburgh. With ECHL teams ravaged by COVID-19, injuries and recalls, it appears the Everblades are going to use Daley for a game or two until they get some of their players back.  Daley last played back in the 2019-20 season with Detroit.

Sabres Place Three In COVID Protocol

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The Sabres have announced that head coach Don Granato along with center Dylan Cozens and Mark Jankowski have all been placed in COVID protocol.  They added that all three are currently asymptomatic although under the current NHL protocols, all three will miss at least the next three days.

Cozens is off to a good start to his sophomore season, collecting eight goals and seven assists in 30 games, good for sixth in scoring on the Sabres.  Meanwhile, Jankowski was recently converted to an NHL contract and had played in four games since then, picking up an assist while logging nearly 13 minutes a night in ice time.  The two join Zemgus Girgensons and Vinnie Hinostroza as those that are currently unavailable while Granato is one of eight head coaches currently in COVID protocol.

Buffalo is currently slated to return to the ice on Wednesday against New Jersey unless there are further changes made to the schedule with a decision on that front expected later today.

Buffalo Sabres Sign Mark Jankowski

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The Buffalo Sabres on Sunday signed forward Mark Jankowski to a one-year, $750,000 contract, per the team. They also loaned forward Arttu Ruotsalainen to the AHL’s Rochester Americans in a corresponding move to create roster space for Jankowski.

Up to this point, Jankowski was on an AHL deal with the Americans after being cut from a professional tryout contract with the New Jersey Devils during training camp. Jankowski’s enjoyed offensive success this season, along with many other Rochester players, scoring five goals and seven assists in 13 games.

Drafted 21st overall by Calgary in 2012, Jankowski, now 27, looked like he was on a path to being a full-time NHL player when he put up 17-goal and 14-goal seasons back-to-back with Calgary in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Jankowski scored just seven points the following season, however, and Calgary opted not to qualify him. He signed with Pittsburgh in free agency but couldn’t make it work there either, scoring 11 points in 45 games.

This is now his third NHL opportunity, and it could very well be his last if it doesn’t work out. Jankowski will likely get more offensive opportunity on this squad than he did in Pittsburgh, and maybe more of a role can help him put more pucks in the back of the net.

Mark Jankowski Signs AHL Contract With Buffalo

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If Mark Jankowski wants to make it back to the NHL, he’ll be going through the AHL to do it as Rochester, AHL affiliate of Buffalo, announced that they’ve inked the 27-year-old to a one-year contract.

Jankowski has not been able to live up to his first-round draft billing (21st overall in 2012) and has struggled the last few seasons.  After being non-tendered by Calgary in 2020, the center quickly signed with Pittsburgh, inking a one-year deal for the league minimum.  The move made plenty of sense on paper as a still relatively unproven player with a bit of upside hoping that a change of scenery would get him going.

However, that didn’t really happen.  Jankowski managed just 11 points (4-7-11) in 45 games last season while playing almost exclusively on the fourth line.  Even though his qualifying offer was only for the minimum this season ($750K), the Penguins opted to non-tender him again, avoiding arbitration in the process.  Unable to secure a guaranteed deal, Jankowski signed a training camp tryout with New Jersey but wasn’t able to land a contract with them either.

Evidently, an NHL two-way offer wasn’t available either which has led Jankowski to the AHL and the Americans.  It will be his first extended action in the minors since 2016-17 when he had 27 goals and 29 assists with Stockton.  This will also be Jankowski’s first real opportunity to play an offensive role in the top six since that season as well and he’s clearly banking that a good showing with Rochester will bolster his shot at landing an NHL contract somewhere either later this season or next summer.

New Jersey Devils Announce Several PTOs

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The New Jersey Devils have added several interesting names to training camp, signing Jimmy Vesey, Mark Jankowski and Tyler Wotherspoon to professional tryout contracts. All three will be there when training camp opens for the Devils on September 22.

Vesey, 28, split last season between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks, recording five goals and ten points in 50 games. The 2016 Hobey Baker award winner was given an outstanding opportunity to start the year next to John Tavares and William Nylander, but was eventually moved down in the lineup when his production sagged. By March, he was placed on waivers by the Maple Leafs as they dealt with a cap squeeze and the Canucks grabbed him, only to watch him fail to score a single goal in 20 games down the stretch.

A third-round pick of the Nashville Predators in 2012, that 2016 summer made Vesey the talk of the NHL as he snubbed the Predators and Buffalo Sabres to get to unrestricted free agency. He ended up signing with the New York Rangers and had three relatively productive seasons, but his career has gone downhill since.

Jankowski, 27, brings a similar story in recent seasons. A first-round pick of the Calgary Flames in 2012, he finally made it to the NHL in 2017 and actually had a very strong rookie season scoring 17 goals. His numbers have dwindled since then, however, and the big center scored just four goals and 11 points last season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. His performance in Pittsburgh was so poor that the team didn’t even decide to issue him a qualifying offer because of the risk of salary arbitration, despite him making only $700K last season.

At least those two were in the NHL last season, something Wotherspoon can’t claim. The 28-year-old defenseman hasn’t seen any NHL action since the 2016-17 campaign with Calgary and has just 36 total matches under his belt. Another disappointing Flames draft pick, he never did establish himself as a legitimate option at the highest level.

Though Devils fans may not find much excitement in this group, there’s something to be said for bringing in veteran players to drive competition at training camp. New Jersey is still one of the youngest teams in the league with only one forward–Tomas Tatar–that has even reached 30. With a few extra spots still up for grabs, Vesey and Jankowski may see it as a good spot to showcase their ability and try for another NHL contract.

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