For teachers, summer is the absolute necessary amnesty away from the 10 month land of unaware vulgarity and dribbled fruit loops.
In response I found myself being wasteful with my time my first day off. So I went to the hfboards to refresh my memory of trading Erik Cole for all the Matty’s and the 2nd rounder that would turn into Roope Hintz, who Hockey’s Future calls one of Finland’s “top NHL properties” (good work, Jim).
It was amusing in the way mental gymnastics often are. As well as amusing in the way absolute predictions like “Janmark is a bust and will never amount to much” often are. I realize the hfboards represent the amygdala of a fanbase more than its central nervous system, but it’s still shocking to see how little Janmark was regarded. For those that did regard him, well, here’s a cookie. You knew what you were talking about.
There’s much more to unpack than your typical driveby analysis when it comes to Janmark. For example, we all know him now as ‘Jason Spezza’s left winger’. And as Spezza’s left winger, he was good. While his numbers on their own are fairly modest, his 29 points were good for 14th among all rookies this season. Right next to well respected names such as Oscar Lindberg and Colton Parayko. Better yet, his points certainly owed much to Spezza’s influence, but he wasn’t just piggybacking.
While we’d all like to see Spezza get a 30 goal scorer attached to his side, it shouldn’t be dismissed how important it was for a defensively responsible winger to make quality use of Spezza’s time. Spezza has been given wing goulash for much of his tenure here in Dallas, but only Janmark has stuck by his side with regularity.
It’s worth mentioning that Janmark didn’t start out as Spezza’s left winger. He started out at his natural position, trying out Cody Eakin’s former role. And to the surprise of everyone at the time, was playing the Radek Faksa cover band before Faksa began to headline his own puck tour. Before Fak ‘Em, there was Mak ‘Em.
Antoine Roussel with Ales Hemsky centered by Janmark early in the season spent 79 minutes together and the trio combined for a collective 61 Percent Corsi For per Corsica Hockey (this was actually better than Faksa’s crew, numbers wise). In other words, Janmark wasn’t just a product of Spezza’s vision. Though only for 24 minutes, Janmark was part of a trio that posted the best possession numbers of any line that spent at least 10 minutes together: a magical 68 Percent CF for the line of Patrick Sharp and Valeri Nichushkin as his wingers. Getting the picture?
There’s a lot to like about Janmark. He projects to fit in nicely either as a two way left winger, or a center with enough vision to compliment anyone on his wing. If they’re talented wingers, he’s helping them generate chances. Janmark’s CF Percentage was 6th on the team (54 Percent), just above Patrick Sharp, and just behind Ales Hemsky. There are a lot of numbers to tell us what he did, and a lot of memories to remind us how.
Janmark’s ceiling is a question mark in the best way possible.
Vote or Die below.
What do you give Mattias Janmark’s 2015-2016 rookie season?
| A for Above and Beyond | 530 |
| B for Barely Above Awesome | 164 |
| C for Clearly Has Plateaued | 5 |
| D for Didn’t Watch This Season | 0 |
| F for Fall on a Landmine for even Choosing This | 3 |