Jansen Harkins is heading to Orlando next week for a family vacation, where he'll get to check out Disney World or maybe visit Universal Studios.
But not even the wildest roller coaster ride will compare with the thrill in store for Harkins this weekend at the NHL draft.
On Friday evening (if he goes as expected in the first round) or Saturday morning, Harkins will hear his name called and he will walk up to the stage at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla., to meet his new NHL boss.
It's a walk the 18-year-old Harkins began to rehearse long before he joined the Prince George Cougars. As the son of an NHL player who also took those steps back in 1988, the thought he'd one day be there himself to model a pro hockey jersey at the draft has been planted in Harkins ever since he started playing the game as a kid at the North Shore Winter Club.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime event and I'm just trying to not get too worried or stressed out but obviously you want to go as high as you can," said Harkins Wednesday, from his grandparents' home in St. Petersburg, Fla. "I look forward to whatever day I get drafted. You work a lot in the past year and a lot of years up to that to try to get to this point and to be recognized for the work you put in would be nice to see happen."
While he's waiting out those anxious moments, Harkins will have lots of family support sitting beside him, including his mother Kirsten, father Todd, brothers Nicklas and Jonas, uncles Brett (a former NHL winger) and Donnie, and grandparents Don and Sandee Harkins.
"The biggest thing from a family standpoint, is we just want him to go to a team that really likes the way he plays and gives him an opportunity," said Todd Harkins. "Jansen mentions his dream is not to get drafted in the NHL, his dream is playing in the NHL and winning the Stanley Cup. It's not really about the draft and where (in the order) you go, it's about who drafts you and gives you the opportunity."
The six-foot-one, 182-pound Harkins is the 15th-ranked North American skater and has been pegged as high as 23rd overall among all the prospects eligible for Friday's draft. Having grown up in North Vancouver as a Canucks fan, the fact Vancouver owns the 23rd overall pick in the draft raises the possibility the Canucks might buy locally and pick Harkins.
"(The Canucks) are definitely in that range and I think they're pretty interested, but there are lots of good players and we won't know until Friday or Saturday," said Harkins.
In a Vancouver Province interview, Vancouver Canucks GM Jim Benning was asked by reporter Ben Kuzma what he thought of Harkins.
"We like his game," said Benning. "He's a smart two-way player and because of his hockey sense, he can play in a lot of different roles and be a top-two line centre because he has the hands and the skill. He's good on the half-wall on the power play and that's a skill he has that others in this draft don't. He also played a third-line checking role at the world under-18 tournament."
Harkins was put to the test last week with 119 other draft-eligible players in Buffalo at the NHL Combine. After getting checked out medically, the players were put through a series of grueling fitness tests to show their off-ice physical capabilities. Harkins made three top-10 lists, including the VO2 max aerobic fitness test. The players met with representatives of the 30 NHL teams in one-on-one interviews to help the teams narrow their choices.
"It was good - it was a new experience like nothing I've ever been to before, so I just tried to take it in and enjoy it," said Harkins. "All those tests are hard and the bike ones, especially, they really push you. I think I did a pretty good job. Some teams were pretty hard, seeing how you would react to it and those were the hardest (questions). We still have a few meetings coming up but physically I've done as much as I can and hopefully it's enough to land somewhere where it'll work out."
Player combines didn't exist in June 1988, when the Calgary Flames selected his father Todd, now the Cougars general manager, in the second round, 42nd overall. He had just finished his freshman season playing college hockey at Miami of Ohio and hadn't really considered his own draft prospects until he got a call from player agent Anton Thun.
"He said I should come to Montreal because I was going to be drafted in the first two rounds and I didn't believe him but I went," said Todd. "It was a bit of a whirlwind with the amount of interviews you had to do. It is a long day because you're waiting for your name to be called and you see all these other kids going up and putting on the jerseys and it is a bit stressful but it's just one day in your life."
When they met in Montreal, Thun took one look at Harkins and told him to get a haircut and lose his mullet and convinced him to buy a suit.
"My family was not a hockey family, so it was just the unknown about how the draft works and knowing the right people," said Todd. "That's a bit different for Jansen, having a dad and uncle who have played in the league and he kind of has the knowledge around him."
Harkins was the fourth American taken in the 1988 draft, after Mike Modano (first overall, Minnesota), Jeremy Roenick (eighth overall, Chicago) and Barry Richter (32nd overall, Hartford). Harkins was the first player born and raised in Cleveland to ever skate in the NHL. In 48 NHL games over three seasons with Calgary and Hartford he collected six points and 78 penalty minutes. His best pro season was 1991-92, when he scored 32 goals and had 62 points with the Flames' IHL affiliate in Salt Lake City. He retired in 2001, after four seasons in Germany.
Jansen's agent is one of the most prominent in the NHL - Don Meehan, whose long list of NHL clients includes Corey Perry, Alexander Ovechkin, Drew Doughty, Jarome Iginla and Eric Brewer. Brewer, picked fifth overall by the New York Islanders in 1997, is one of only three Prince George Cougars who were first-rounders. The others were Dan Hamhuis (12th overall, 2001, Nashville) and Brett Connolly (sixth overall, 2010, Tampa Bay).
Jansen scored 20 goals and set a new team record with 59 assists while leading the Cougars in scoring as the top-line centre. They made the playoffs for the first time in four seasons, losing to Victoria in a five-game opening-round series. He's heading into his third WHL season with the Cougars and his expectations for the team are running high.
"Every team likes to say that they'll be better next year but for us I really think that," he said. "We have a pretty young core group and hopefully we can all come together and carry the team next year and have a good season."
Like his dad, Jansen was born in Cleveland and holds dual citizenship, but last year he confirmed that as far as hockey is concerned he's a Canadian. He's been on the national team radar the past three seasons and in April helped Canada to a bronze medal at the IIHF world under-18 championship. He's taking aim at a spot on the world junior team next Christmas.
"It's pretty uncertain but I think if I continue to develop and play like I'm playing now and I stay in the same mindset of getting better, it'll happen," he said. "I'll put in the work this summer to be as ready as I can for the beginning of the season and hopefully have a good start and get an opportunity for that team."
The draft will be televised live on Sportsnet starting at 4 p.m. Friday.
