For the Kraken’s new Assistant General Manager Ryan Jankowksi, hired early this month, hockey is a family affair.
This is not the story of a former ten or fifteen-year NHL veteran turning to the front office after completing his playing career, this is a guy whose trip into hockey management began when he came out of the womb.
Ryan didn’t play in the NHL, but his late father Lou did; about 100 games between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks during the Original-6 era. The Wings were a powerhouse at the time in the early 1950’s. Lou would have played on a club that featured Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay, a couple of Hall of Famers a few of you might want to look up if necessary.
Lou went on to become a legendary scout and his son eventually followed in his footsteps. The now 51-year-old Ryan started out in 1997 as a 23-year-old scout across the state with the Spokane Chiefs, a club he remained with for six seasons. That’s when he got his break as a scout and eventually an assistant general manager with the New York Islanders.
Speaking of bloodlines, Ryan is indirectly related to Red Kelly, another Hockey Hall of Famer. Red, Lou’s brother-in-law, played with Howe and Lindsay in Detroit, winning four Stanley Cups with Detroit and later four more with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
If Ryan hadn’t loved hockey, it probably wouldn’t have mattered. His career was decided for him.
He’s made the most of it. After seven seasons with the Islanders, Jankowski moved on to the Montreal Canadiens organization as a scout and then spent four eventful years as a hockey operations executive with Hockey Canada.
His connection to the Kraken? He worked for three seasons as the Director of Amateur Scouting for the Buffalo Sabres at the same time current Kraken GM Jason Botterill worked there.
That’s how thing go in our sport. It’s one big hockey family and the separation is no more than two degrees anywhere. In this case, just one.
Seattle has brought on-board another hockey lifer, and there’s rarely anything wrong with that.
Earlier Kraken:
— Kraken’s Evans Deal Amicable
