Flames return Mark Jankowski to Stockton

The Mark Jankowski era is over in Calgary. At least, for now.

After a call-up that saw the 2012 first round selection of the Calgary Flames scratched three times and dressed just once, the club announced that he’s been returned to the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat.

Jankowski, 22, was solid if unspectacular in his National Hockey League debut against the New York Islanders. He didn’t look out of place, and even earned some praise from Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan for some of the smaller plays he made.

That said, with Lance Bouma getting closer and closer to a return to the lineup and the Flames playing well enough that Gulutzan probably doesn’t want to muck around with his fourth line – Micheal Ferland, Freddie Hamilton and Garnet Hathaway have been very, very good together – there’s really no reason to keep Jankowski on the roster. As our Christian Tiberi noted earlier today, if he’s not going to play with the Flames they might as well send him to Stockton so he can play. He returns to a Heat club that is playing very well and sitting second in the the AHL’s Pacific Division.

As a nice side-effect of demoting Jankowski, the Flames end up saving a bit of cap space by virtue of carrying fewer extra bodies. Their active roster currently sits at 22 players (two goalies, seven defensemen and 13 forwards).