Jets Nation Prospect Profile 2015: #8 Jansen Harkins

The Winnipeg Jets picked up the 6’2, 185 lbs, two-way centre Jansen Harkins in the second round with their third pick in the 2015 draft. Interestingly enough, many thought the Jets could target Harkins with their second first-round pick.

In our Nations Network pre-draft profile, we and our sister sites ranked Harkins 22nd overall at the draft.

We continue our summer prospect profile series, checking in at #8.

Here is Harkins’ Player Cohort Success over the since his pre-draft eligible season:

PCS% is the percentage of similar players in height, league, scoring, and age that made the NHL, while PCS points per game is the production typical of those that did make it.

Harkins was an incredibly highly touted player coming out of the Bantam draft. Many thought of him as the next big playmaking centre to come out of the WHL, although there were some concerns with his defensive game.

The next two seasons saw the perception on Harkins flip over on its head.

Harkins 16-year-old season included a decent but modest production of 34 points in 67 games. What was interesting though was Harkins deployment. Harkins was leaned on defensively more often than norm for young, rookie centres in the WHL.

The next season the Prince George Cougars leaned even more heavily on the smart centre. Harkins was looked to be the Cougars’ best offensive and defensive forward night in and out.

Harkins succeeded under this responsibility, improving his point production substantially and his PCS percentage. Unfortunately it seemed to not be enough, and concerns grew that Harkins would never reach his originally perceived offensive potential.

Some of this though may be due to the Cougars’ lack of depth. 

Harkins connected on 36.2 per cent of the Cougars goals in games where Harkins dressed. This number was the third highest for draft eligible forwards hailing from the WHL. Harkins also placed second highest in the percentage of goals created statistic.

Next season Harkins will once again be relied on and the Jets will be watching how Harkins offensive game evolves.

Regardless, Jets fans should be pretty excited with Harkins and was quite the value selection at 47th overall.

Here are some highlights of Jansen Harkins 2014-2015 season, courtesy of Jets Nations’ own Anthony Lenting: