Jankowski’s Stanley Cup win adds 19th Admirals alum champion

Mark Jankowski’s first Stanley Cup came with a familiar Milwaukee footnote attached. The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 in Game 6 on June 14 to take the final four games to two, and Jankowski became the 19th Admirals alumnus to hoist the Cup. He was the first Milwaukee graduate to do it since Samuel Girard won with Colorado in 2022.

That number matters in Milwaukee because it says more about the Admirals than one player’s title ring. The club counted 18 different former Milwaukee players in the 2026 NHL playoffs, spread across 10 of the 16 qualifying teams, a reminder that the franchise’s reach extends well beyond a single prospect pipeline. Jankowski’s name now joins that long list of Milwaukee-to-NHL success stories, the kind that gives the AHL club a direct line into championship season.

Jankowski was more than a ceremonial add-on for Carolina. NHL.com lists him with 19 playoff games in 2025-26, producing one goal and four assists for five points, after a regular season in which he played 68 games and finished with 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points. His Cup-winning run also came with the kind of depth contribution championship teams rely on, especially in a postseason where the Hurricanes leaned on players who had spent time climbing the pro ladder.

His background fits the profile of a player who kept moving until the role found him. Jankowski was born Sept. 13, 1994, in Hamilton, Ontario, and the Calgary Flames took him 21st overall in the 2012 draft. NHL.com also notes a deeper hockey family line: his grandfather, Lou Jankowski, played 127 NHL games for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks, and his great uncle is Hall of Famer Red Kelly.

For Milwaukee, Jankowski’s championship is another argument for patience in development. The Admirals have built an identity around turning AHL time into NHL value, and Jankowski’s path shows how that works when a player settles into a role, stays in the system long enough to matter, and eventually helps finish the job on the sport’s biggest stage. His Cup adds another name to the board in Milwaukee, but it also reinforces the larger story: the Admirals keep sending players into the NHL who are good enough to matter when the games get biggest.