His defensive stats were bad, but watching him play I don't see a bad defensive player. I see a good young defenseman that just needs to round a few things out to put it all together.I said it last year, and i'll say it again. Cholowski is one of my favorite players, because I think his greatest strength is/will be scoring suppression.
That opinion seems to be at complete odds with his plus/minus, the opinion of the head coach, fans and media.
Nevertheless, I feel that the overall tape corroborates my viewpoint.
He might score 30, 50 or 80 a year, but what I'm most sure of is that he has great instincts for breaking up plays, great instincts for giving his goalie the right opportunities and a relentless interest in surveying and turning the tide on a 5 v 5 basis.
Bowey has been amazing in the d zone so far. So I don't mean to doubt the same people that helped that transformation. I would love for Cholowski to chop down his gaps and be as active in the zone as Bowey has been.
But the narrative always gets transformed into Cholowski being this offense first player that needs to change his game, and I think that that couldnt be further from the truth.
He is by nature the fifth guy up ice and a goalies best friend, but it just so happens that at this point in our teams development, Cholowskis transition offense has been highlighted in comparison.
This was a big game for him. I thought 65,17,22 were legitimately a cut above for this year. But Bowey and Cholowski have looked equally as competent/effective so far this preseason.
I'm hoping this game leads to a competive end to the preseason, and possibly a creative solution from the org to accomodate the heart and maturity Ras,Svech,Cholo,etc have shown.
I am super happy that Calumet won this contest (and that Eagle River came in second). It should be a really cool event for a great hockey town.
I'm really curious how we transition our young D into the lineup, over the course of the year and into next year. We're going to have a lot of holes to fill, next year, especially if Bowey and Nemeth don't pan out.
Same. Everyone forgot how he pretty much dominated preseason last year and forced his way onto the team, and then was a major bright spot for 20-30 games before tailing off. It looked obvious his problem last season was getting worn out physically/mentally, which shouldn't stop him from making the team this year and be more prepared.was shocked all off season how many fans forgot about choski great first half last season . and somebody that size and as good of a skater shall improve his defense with experience . got him penciled into top 4 long term with sides and hronek . and mcissac makes 4 .
At this point the only D-man we have to protect, other than DeKeyser because of his NTC, is Hronek, IIRC, and possibly Cholo. McIsaac and Seider are protected. So we are pretty set for the expansion.So far it looks pretty good. Bowey has been looking good, Seider is very promising, and Hronek looks good. Kaski is nice depth if we lose somebody in expansion draft.
Cholowski and McIsaac should be great left-side defencemen, with still solid duo of DeKeyser and Nemeth there. We can lose one of the veterans at some point.
Like, in a year our defence could be this young:
LD DeKeyser, 30
LD Nemeth, 28
LD Cholowski, 22
LD McIsaac, 20
RD Bowey, 25
RD Kaski, 25
RD Hronek, 22
RD Seider, 19
That's a solid core to build around. We just need those kids to grow. Everybody is still looking to our dinosaurs (Green, Daley, Ericsson) and bashing about them. But in a year, they are gone.
For anyone who missed it, s/o awood40