tray said:
20-35 goals is really pushing it. After watching him in Junior it was pretty noticeable that Chuck enjoyed playing the weaker teams and racking up the points against them but was invisible come tough teams and guys shadowing him. Took alot of dumb penalties in Junior too, but seemed alot more focused this year with the Flames. I think 3rd liner would be a better fit for him
As Hockey Moose said, Kobasew was an absolute clutch performer for BC. He had 2 goals and an assist (on the game winning OT goal) in the NCAA Championship game. He put up spectacular numbers in his one year at BC and his GWP may have led the nation if I remember correctly. This was all as a freshman. He was thus dubbed as an absolute clutch player for the draft.
Although I didn't see him at all in the WHL, 41 goals in 57 games (I think) is pretty damn impressive and at least some of those goals had to have come in game breaking situations. It's simply too many goals in too few games for them all to be when the game was already decided.
Although he was inconsistent this year, his effort was always there. The guy has really learned how to battle. With Reinprecht healthy and possibly McAmmond back, the Nieminen-Nilson-Donovan line (if kept together) will not be the second line. I expect Sutter to bring in another center this summer and if Conroy is re-signed, then Nilson could very well find himself back on the wing. Regardless, I expect Kobasew to get second line minutes next year as well as second unit powerplay minutes (seeing as the Nieminen-Nilson-Donovan line almost never played on the powerplay). I think he'll score 20 next year and has a ceiling of 35.
