Prospect Info: #20 Dennis Cholowski, D-Chilliwack, BCHL

[izlez]

What? No, no.

The Big Cholowski.

The dude abides.

If we're lucky and he continues to grow to 6'3 or 6'4 it shall be The Big Cholowski.

But for now, we shall call him Cholo

As far as his actual play, I'm really high on this pick after watching his highlights and shift-by-shift. He is so smart and patient with the puck and that's really what I want. Every pass he made either gave his teammate an easy zone entry or all the time in the world to easily break out of the zone

 

[Retire91]

Haha can we call him "the dude"?

 

[Frk It]

To those of you questioning St. Cloud's ability to "develop" defensemen, keep in mind this is our first ever 1st round draft pick. Of course other schools with multiple 1st and 2nd round draft picks will turn out more NHL players.

Secondly, we did have a defenseman make his debut last year; Kevin Gravel for the Kings.

Finally, keep in mind that USA Hockey named Bob Motzko head coach of the WJC team. Think they would do that to a coach who couldn't handle NHL caliber players?

Dennis is in good hands. Chillax.

Doesn't St. Cloud have a lot of d men that might play over him? Isn't that kind of an issue?

 

[Marky9er]

Haha can we call him "the dude"?

Absolutely. It's fitting because a bunch of people here are pissing on his rug.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

To those of you questioning St. Cloud's ability to "develop" defensemen, keep in mind this is our first ever 1st round draft pick. Of course other schools with multiple 1st and 2nd round draft picks will turn out more NHL players.

Secondly, we did have a defenseman make his debut last year; Kevin Gravel for the Kings.

Finally, keep in mind that USA Hockey named Bob Motzko head coach of the WJC team. Think they would do that to a coach who couldn't handle NHL caliber players?

Dennis is in good hands. Chillax.

Speaking of St. Cloud, does Jimmy Schuldt have any NHL potential?

 

[The Exiled One]

Doesn't St. Cloud have a lot of d men that might play over him? Isn't that kind of an issue?

The blue line is indeed stacked for SCSU next season, but he'll still be top six. Also, with Prow's graduation, the first PP unit QB spot is wide open. He has a good a chance as anybody to take that spot. Finally, your GM already said he's a three or four year prospect, so he doesn't need first line minutes right away. He wasn't even scheduled to come in this year!

Speaking of St. Cloud, does Jimmy Schuldt have any NHL potential?

Schuldt is a stud. Vastly underrated. He was a much better (albeit older) freshman than Will Borgan was last season. I predict he'll sign a FA deal after his junior season... maybe after this season if he really lights it up.

 

[Frk It]

I like reading that Coach Nelson says this kid already "passes like a pro", quality outlets from our back end is one of the things this team needs most. Skating and passing are the two things Nelson and Wright talk about when they talk about this kid. That is music to my ears.

 

[RabidBadger]

If anyone wants to see Cholo this year, the only time he is in state is Dec 3rd at Western Mich. If you enjoy beer and hockey, it will make for a nice road trip. If you do not enjoy at least half of those, your life is likely a black hole.

There are still a couple empty non-con slots on St. Cloud's schedule to fill but not likely to include Michagan teams. Let's hope, though.

 

[Run the Jewels]

I like reading that Coach Nelson says this kid already "passes like a pro", quality outlets from our back end is one of the things this team needs most. Skating and passing are the two things Nelson and Wright talk about when they talk about this kid. That is music to my ears.

Yeah, hopefully him and Saarijarvi can develop and become solid NHL d-men.

 

[Ban Hammered]

If anyone wants to see Cholo this year, the only time he is in state is Dec 3rd at Western Mich. If you enjoy beer and hockey, it will make for a nice road trip. If you do not enjoy at least half of those, your life is likely a black hole.

There are still a couple empty non-con slots on St. Cloud's schedule to fill but not likely to include Michagan teams. Let's hope, though.

There are no empty non con slots for us this year. We have 10 of them.
And we also play at Western Dec 2nd, it's a 2 game series. Also all of our games will be online at NCHC.TV

 

[RabidBadger]

There are no empty non con slots for us this year. We have 10 of them.
And we also play at Western Dec 2nd, it's a 2 game series. Also all of our games will be online at NCHC.TV

I was going by the College Hockey News schedule which has the Western series as a home-and-home and non-con slots open. USCHO has it listed correctly. Guess I know what source is more reliable. Oy.

At any rate, if you want updates on Cholo, you should really confer with the Rabid guy above.

 

[Ban Hammered]

I was going by the College Hockey News schedule which has the Western series as a home-and-home and non-con slots open. USCHO has it listed correctly. Guess I know what source is more reliable. Oy.

At any rate, if you want updates on Cholo, you should really confer with the Rabid guy above.

Or ya know...you could have checked our site.

 

[TheOctopusKid]

I have really come around on Cholowski and there's no real good reason why. The only thing that keeps popping into my head is the fact that we took Larkin and the Wings community was underwhelmed by the decision and it turned out it was a better pick than we could have ever expected.

Maybe Cholowski is our Larkin on defense - a rather uninspiring pick at first glance but perhaps Wright saw something that others didn't as with Larkin and made the right move.

 

[Frk It]

I have really come around on Cholowski and there's no real good reason why. The only thing that keeps popping into my head is the fact that we took Larkin and the Wings community was underwhelmed by the decision and it turned out it was a better pick than we could have ever expected.

Maybe Cholowski is our Larkin on defense - a rather uninspiring pick at first glance but perhaps Wright saw something that others didn't as with Larkin and made the right move.

That's definitely the hope.

It's incredibly hard to find the equivalent to Larkin on defense. We are very fortunate to have drafted Larkin where we did. For Wright (and Holland) to do that twice in 3 years would be nothing short of phenomenal. Would probably get Wright some looks at a GM role, to be honest.

Worth pointing out that Wright drafted primarily forwards during his tenure with Columbus, so he doesn't really have a track record on the defensive side of the puck like he did at forward.

All that said, everything I have read about Cholowski says that he has the things that are hard to teach already, he just needs to work on the things that can actually be corrected. That is always a good thing with prospects. His 2 biggest strengths (skating and passing) are two of the most important things for his position.

 

[TheOctopusKid]

Cholowski and Russo are my guys right now on defense. I am far less high on the rest of our defensive prospects for various reasons but those two feel like they could grow into a Rafalski - Redden style like players. Hicketts could eventually earn himself a nice depth, journeyman like role but I don't think he'll be a standout in any way.

 

[Frk It]

Cholowski and Russo are my guys right now on defense. I am far less high on the rest of our defensive prospects for various reasons but those two feel like they could grow into a Rafalski - Redden style like players. Hicketts could eventually earn himself a nice depth, journeyman like role but I don't think he'll be a standout in any way.

Saarijarvi?

Keep your eye on Hronek this year.

 

[TheOctopusKid]

Saarijarvi?

Keep your eye on Hronek this year.

I just think SaSaarijarvi won't be able to handle the physicality of the NHL. I think he's going to have solid numbers throughout but ends up falling off when he reaches Detroit. To make up the difference if his inability to play the body of larger forwards and getting knocked off the puck, he's going to need to bring some serious offense and I think that is too tall an order

Don't have an opinion on Hronek yet.

 

[Frk It]

I just think SaSaarijarvi won't be able to handle the physicality of the NHL. I think he's going to have solid numbers throughout but ends up falling off when he reaches Detroit. To make up the difference if his inability to play the body of larger forwards and getting knocked off the puck, he's going to need to bring some serious offense and I think that is too tall an order

Don't have an opinion on Hronek yet.

His size is obviously a concern. I know we saw similar issues with Almqvist, as far as dynamic smaller offensive guys that get hammered on the forecheck.

But I think Saarijarvi skates better, or will end up a better skater. And Almqvist seemed to really struggle putting on weight. I remember that being well documented. I don't know that Saarijarvi has that same issue, at least I haven't heard so if that is the case.

If the kid can get to 180-185 lbs, I think he would be fine, as long as his skating does not suffer with the weight gain.

 

[TheOctopusKid]

His size is obviously a concern. I know we saw similar issues with Almqvist, as far as dynamic smaller offensive guys that get hammered on the forecheck.

But I think Saarijarvi skates better, or will end up a better skater. And Almqvist seemed to really struggle putting on weight. I remember that being well documented. I don't know that Saarijarvi has that same issue, at least I haven't heard so if that is the case.

If the kid can get to 180-185 lbs, I think he would be fine, as long as his skating does not suffer with the weight gain.

That's fine - then realistically he's shooting for a Tobias Entrom like ceiling (to use the obvious example). What I was generally disheartened by was the absolute disaster the situation in Flint turned out to be which isn't his fault. But more so with the observations from the prospect camp from Malik and hearing how badly he was knocked around. I'm certain that Wings have made it very clear to him that he needs to get stronger and heavier with and without the puck and it doesn't seem like much has happened on that front this last year. Here's hoping to see a serious improvement - and even in that case we're looking at an undersized 4th or 5th D with PP specialty written all over him (like Enstrom). It just seems to me that Hicketts plays a similar style (maybe not with the same level of offensive flair) - is beyond mature, has a overdeveloped sense of leadership and understanding of the defensive side of the game, and has 20 pounds over V right now.

And even with all those accolades and accomplishments, Hicketts isn't really mentioned as a potential core piece of the Wings future. Just feels like a very long ramp up time with a lot of what if's baked in. I hope that I'm wrong, I just feel like Cholowski and Russo seem far likelier options going forward as potential 1st and 2nd pairing guys.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Wonder why Cholowski didn't get called to the Summer Showcase event for Canada. Maybe just school stuff? Hard to ignore who's on the top pairing there, though... even ahead of guys a few years older.

 

[Nut Upstrom]

Wonder why Cholowski didn't get called to the Summer Showcase event for Canada. Maybe just school stuff? Hard to ignore who's on the top pairing there, though... even ahead of guys a few years older.

Who is on the top pairing there?

 

[Frk It]

Wonder why Cholowski didn't get called to the Summer Showcase event for Canada. Maybe just school stuff? Hard to ignore who's on the top pairing there, though... even ahead of guys a few years older.

Not sure what you referring to with "school stuff, but wouldn't Fabbro also potentially have "school stuff" since they're both going to college?

Cholowski has played for Canada very infrequently, they must not think he is one of their best options right now. Oh well.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Who is on the top pairing there?

Dante Fabbro, the guy we should have drafted.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

He should have made the extras or even beat out Roy

 

[Reddwit]

He should have made the extras or even beat out Roy

Was he even invited?

I wouldn't really look into it. He was a late riser. I'm sure Team Canada scouts weren't just looking at the past half year to inform their opinions.