Are you sure about that? Was he playing top 4 minutes? I am trying to jog my memory. He was a goon, that's what I remember.
Cowen is not good enough (yet) to be playing so many minutes. He should be learning the game as a 5th defenceman. Not only is this team's glaring need for a top 4 D-man ruining the season, it may ruin Cowen.
Well, the last time I saw Chara play with the Islanders, he didn't stand out at all, other than being a head taller than everyone else on the ice.
I didn't watch every Islanders game, granted, but the few times I saw him 14 years ago, all I noticed is that he was remarkably agile for a man his size.
Cowen has a way to go to just be "serviceable".
He flat out sucks right now.
I find it odd that the team is so concerned with Zibanejad and Pageau's "development" that one was cut in training camp, and the other has since been sent down, yet Cowen, who has struggled terribly all season long, and is screaming for AHL time, isn't getting it.
I don't think this is about missing camp, or his injuries.
Even Roy Halladay got sent back to A ball after some big league time to get his game together. He turned it around and became the Cy Young caliber Pitcher everyone thought he could be.
Maybe Cowen isn't a write off yet, but keeping him up in the NHL doesn't seem to be the right move to me.
It's not helping. He's not getting any better. He's not playing his way out of it.
He is a train wreck.