YOUTH MOVEMENT

Your Flames Authority George Johnson is looking back on five highlights from the past season:

"It was definitely a learning year for me," conceded Jankowski, after an astounding four-goal game in a 7-1 win over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights that put the cork in the Flames' 2017-2018 campaign.
"My goal was to make the team out of camp and to stay here all year and be an impact player. I think I did a pretty good job of that. I was just trying to build every day.
"Going into the summer, I want to take everything I learned this year and use that as fuel and come back into camp and be a better player."
In that aim, he's far from alone.
Indisputably one of the overriding positives of a season that ended too soon has been the volume of young turks that either received a brief, intoxicating taste of life in the NHL, or staked a viable claim to long-term employment here at the top level.
The pipeline between the Flames and their top minor-league affiliate, the AHL Stockton Heat, had never been busier, or more beneficial.
"We're getting to the stage where the players we selected are maturing, finding their feet and pushing for opportunities,'' is how Calgary's assistant GM Brad Pascal explained the process. "This is how we envisioned the plan moving forward. But you have to be patient.
"Our policy has been to draft your own, grow your own and develop your own.
"Even the process of moving and setting up shop in Stockton, putting the required infrastructure in place there … you don't just snap your fingers and it all magically happens.
"A lot of people have put a lot of hard work into this.
"Now we're starting to see the fruits of that labour."

Jankowski is indicative of the growing connection, concluding a 71-start freshman year with a highly-respectable 17 goals.
Rough-and-tumble Garnet Hathaway and steady D-man Brett Kulak both also found permanent homes here for the first time.
Another top prospect, free-agent signing Spencer Foo, arrived on the strength of a stellar second half in Stockton, played the closing four games of the regular season for the Flames and connected for his first two big-league snipes.
Both goaltenders who opened the year in California, David Rittich and Jon Gillies, received long looks in Calgary, each making a statement of intention heading into September in their quests to partner No. 1 Mike Smith in the goaltending rotation.
Over his 21 starts as a Flame, Rittich went 8-6-3 with a 2.92 GAA and .904 save percentage. Gillies, in 11 appearances, put up like numbers - 3-5-1, 2.88 GAA, .896 save percentage.
Puck-moving D-man Rasmus Andersson also made a strong impression in his audition of 10 games, hinting at full-time NHL employment next season.
Left-winger Andrew Mangipane, the Heat's leading scorer, made his NHL debut on New Year's Eve at the 'Dome, versus Chicago, as did Morgan Klimchuk on Feb. 19 against Boston.

Feisty Ryan Lomberg took his initial bow Jan. 25, at Edmonton, and scrapped Oiler tough Zach Kassian to mark the occasion.
As well, off-season free-agent signing Marek Hrivik got in three big-league dates after being summoned from Stockton, and NHL-vet Tanner Glass registered 17 Flames' appearances.
"I think we have different guys here at the moment who when called upon could go up and contribute,'' said Heat coach Ryan Huska.
"Whether it's a Garnet, who's done well in the past when given the opportunity, or someone looking for a first chance, like Mangiapane.
"We're at the point where we do have some younger, talented players who are very close. That's exciting for everybody.
"The challenge for all of us down here is to make sure we continue to get this push, to demand more, to develop guys that can really be relied upon up in Calgary - whether it's this year, next year or the year after."