Young Defensemen speculation thread

[lhsgolf19]

I'd thought we'd start one because the next 7 days should be fascinating to see, with at least 2 and possibly 3-4 to be in the opening night pairings.

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[Pavels Dog]

Let the youth movement on D begin. Better late than never. Our backend will look quite different in 2-3 years with perhaps none of our current veterans around.

 

[newfy]

I think Cholowski has to get a shot based on the preseason and camp he had. Not sure he will though. Hronek should be up too and whoever is playing best when guys get healthy stays in the line up. At that point used Hicketts or Sulak (take your pick) as the 7th guy

 

[bert2z]

I don't see Hicketts being anything more than a stop-gate while we wait for younger defensemen to develop. Cholo should be a lock. Sulak impressed me more than Hronek, but is older and Hronek seems to have the better resume. Hopefully will be able to see all of them at the NHL level for some time this season.

 

[Bench]

Cholowski is changing my mind on him with his performance. I hope he keeps it up and gets a long look in the NHL this year.

 

[sully6one]

Cholowski should be with the club. He’s a smart person and I think he learns from his mistakes in the d zone really quickly and becomes a solid two way top 4 dman by mid season.

Sulak should also be with the club, not because of how good he’s been, more so because he’s out performed the others. I think he should battle Jensen for playing time until agreements comes back and everyone else is healthy.

Hronek could get the call if more injuries happy, but is 3rd on the list. I think him going back to the AHL to get some more confidence and fine tune his game will be better for him than in the NHL. He needs to improve his speed or we will have another Ouellet defensively.

Hicketts is 4th and I think is nothing more than a stop gap until guys come and I don’t like those guys. He brings energy, turnovers, and pad pinches. I don’t see a scenario where he can improve a part of his game to be a legit NHLer.

Saarijarvi won’t get a shot this early, but man has he looked good. Great pinches, not a liability in the d zone, only issue I have and it’s knit picking is his decision making. He doesn’t always make the best play, usually the easier one which isn’t a bad thing but not a good thing.

 

[Ghost of Ethan Hunt]

While the eye test, regular & advanced stats are all an integral part of the big picture...How would everyone rank our 4 potential rookie Dmen in these categories? Using (C, S, Hr & Hi for abbreviations)

Offense?
C, S, Hr, Hi

Defense?
S, C, Hr, Hi

Passing?
C, S/Hr, Hi

Vision?
C, Hr/S, Hi

Skating
C, S, Hr, Hi

Speed (top end & acceleration)
S, C, Hr, Hi

Clearing the D zone, Transition & Gap coverage?
?

Shot Blocking/Suppression?
?

PP
?

PK
?

Intangibles?
C, S, Hi/Hr..tied for 3rd

Ceiling?
C, Hr, S, Hi

Overall Impact?
C, S,Hr, Hi

Feel free to add a category.

 

[Ghost of Ethan Hunt]

Strength would be the only other category I'd add, as we already know about the size & career resume thus far.

 

[Hinterland]

Hicketts, Sulak and Cholowski are easily better than what's already on the roster...except maybe DeKeyser and Green. Only problem: they're no righties.

 

[Hinterland]

I don't see Hicketts being anything more than a stop-gate while we wait for younger defensemen to develop. Cholo should be a lock. Sulak impressed me more than Hronek, but is older and Hronek seems to have the better resume. Hopefully will be able to see all of them at the NHL level for some time this season.

Hicketts may not have Cholowki's ceiling but he's still easily a good 5th/6th defenseman and PK specialist with the potential to play on the 2nd pairing or PP if needed. I'll never forget that interview with a frustrated Zetterberg...he was totally lost for words when asked to comment on the Hicketts demotion.

 

[bert2z]

Hicketts may not have Cholowki's ceiling but he's still easily a good 5th/6th defenseman and PK specialist with the potential to play on the 2nd pairing or PP if needed. I'll never forget that interview with a frustrated Zetterberg...he was totally lost for words when asked to comment on the Hicketts demotion.

To o be fair I was in Utah last winter and didn't watch wings games aside from highlights so I'm judging him based on this pre-season and stats. I'm back home and hoping to watch a lot of games this year so hopefully you're right.

 

[Henkka]

Basic statistics:

Total Ice-time per preseason game:

Regulars
1. Jonathan Ericsson, 19:10
2. Trevor Daley, 18:16
3. Niklas Kronwall, 17:54
4. Nick Jensen, 17:08
5. Danny DeKeyser 16:46

On the competition:
1. Dennis Cholowski, 22:07 (highest of all)
2. Joe Hicketts, 21:09 (second highest of all)
3. Libor Sulak, 20:07 (third highest of all)
4. Filip Hronek, 19:16
5. Vili Saarijärvi, 17:19

Outside of competition:
1. Jake Chelios, 19:29
2. Trevor Hamilton, 17:52
3. Dylan McIlrath, 16:52

 

[Henkka]

Basic statistics:

Power-play Ice-time per preseason game:

1. Dennis Cholowski, 3:27
2. Niklas Kronwall, 3:07
3. Filip Hronek, 2:06
5. Vili Saarijärvi, 0:54

Others less than 20 seconds per game.

Penalty-kill Ice-time per preseason game:

1. Joe Hicketts, 3:03
(Dylan McIlrath, 3:03)
2. Libor Sulak, 2:49
3. Nick Jensen, 2:31
4. Trevor Daley, 2:28
5. Dennis Cholowski, 2:19
6. Dan DeKeyser, 2:17
7. Filip Hronek, 1:39
8. Vili Saarijärvi, 1:19
9. Niklas Kronwall, 1:03

If I could predict the TOP6 for season opener, based on just ice-times it would be:

Cholowski + Kronwall as PP quarterbacks (1D + 4 forwards in two units)

Hicketts, Sulak, Jensen and Cholowski as penalty killers. That leaves us:

Kronwall - Jensen
Sulak - Hicketts
Cholowski - 6th guy, this is either Hronek or Saarijärvi. Hronek has little edge in special teams minutes, but Saarijärvi has played more 5-on-5. There's no special team role for that 6th guy.

Green, Daley, DeKeyser, Ericsson and Daley expected to be injured.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Cholowski is changing my mind on him with his performance. I hope he keeps it up and gets a long look in the NHL this year.

For me it depends on how Blashill plans to use him.

If Cholowski is only going to play 12 minutes a night, I'd rather he be logging 20+ in the AHL. Though given the current injury situation, it's looking like Blashill wouldn't be able to limit his minutes that much without playing someone else half the game.

 

[Ghost of Ethan Hunt]

For me it depends on how Blashill plans to use him.

If Cholowski is only going to play 12 minutes a night, I'd rather he be logging 20+ in the AHL. Though given the current injury situation, it's looking like Blashill wouldn't be able to limit his minutes that much without playing someone else half the game.

Solution: Dress 7 Dmen

Kronner-Jensen
Cholo-Hronek
Sulak-Hicketts
Witkowski

 

[Henkka]

For me it depends on how Blashill plans to use him.

If Cholowski is only going to play 12 minutes a night, I'd rather he be logging 20+ in the AHL. Though given the current injury situation, it's looking like Blashill wouldn't be able to limit his minutes that much without playing someone else half the game.

I could bet Cholowski plays TOP minutes in the season opener, if 4 guys of the regular group are out. I call it a Blash-plan!

Who else can handle that duty, if only vets there are Kronwall and Jensen?

 

[Snuggs]

Easily Hronek is a more established professional outside of the special teams even. You're discrediting him way to much for playing in the AHL at 20 and 19 years old and giving Cholowski too much credit for playing in a less league with less competition with less stats even and more ice time.

Hronek was better than Hicketts even in the AHL last season. Outside of age I don't even see the advantage of playing Sulak/Hicketts above Hronek.

I'm honestly almost convinced he's Marek Zidlicky 2.0 which for this team is a top pairing defensemen right now honestly.

 

[Henkka]

Who is discrediting Hronek?

 

[raymond23]

Give me Cholowski, Hronek, AND Sulak. f*** the rest

 

[Snuggs]

Who is discrediting Hronek?

Well I guess i'd have to say you are a little based off your starting line up predictions. Idk I might be wrong though, I could of read you wrong. Maybe you think he's fine just young or something idk. Too me though it's an injustice to play those other guys over him when he's done more.

* I don't want to get things twisted about Cholowski I think he's good. If anything though I think him Sulak, and Saarijarvri could use a year in the AHL. Hicketts/Hronek deserve the opportunity to join the big club I think. There isn't much more to prove in the AHL for them.

 

[Henkka]

Well I guess i'd have to say you are a little based off your starting line up predictions. Idk I might be wrong though, I could of read you wrong. Maybe you think he's fine just young or something idk. Too me though it's an injustice to play those other guys over him when he's done more.

* I don't want to get things twisted about Cholowski I think he's good. If anything though I think him Sulak, and Saarijarvri could use a year in the AHL. Hicketts/Hronek deserve the opportunity to join the big club I think. There isn't much more to prove in the AHL for them.

Ok.

What I think, anything that has has happened before in AHL, is meaningless. AHL is not a free ticket to NHL roster. Only thing what matters is right now, in these preseason games, against half-NHL/AHL competition. There will hopefully be few games against real NHL squads against Toronto, so we'll see more, when the stakes go even higher.

But one thing is, Ken Holland has said this many times. NHL is a tricky league. There's too many examples, who succeed in AHL, won't succeed in NHL. then somebody who would't succeed in AHL, and succeeds in in NHL. there's no guarantees.

Blashill has used most Cholowski, Sulak and Hicketts. If Daley is healthy, those are the clear TOP3. The penalty killing TOP5 has been Hicketts-Sulak-Jensen-Daley, in that order, and on this current situation (injuries for PK regulars) we need penalty killers. Cholowski is the 5th guy after them. This sets up the starting lineup, because most of the regular PK defencemen are injured and those kids aren't used on the PK just for fun. They are there to get the experience.

I have nothing against Hronek. But he isn't the top candidate right now for certain reasons. There's no role, and he hasn't outplayed others. He has been good, but he just isn't a fit on this current and weird situation. Hronek should be the best kid PP defenceman to get a spot, but Dennis Cholowski is outplaying him.

Against Boston, Cholowski played first time on the right side on any of Wings training camp games, and he had no problem there. Played his best game against, on the wrong side. That tells much about him, how he can evolve his game. He is raising his level game after game, learns from mistakes etc. I just can't wait where this will end.

Putting our best kid defenceman on AHL would be very weird. I think Cholowski will be the Larkin of defence. Never sees AHL after the amateur try-out.

 

[A Few Good Males]

I noticed that Hronek started the season slowly when he first came to play for Saginaw in the O, then again in GR last year, but this article is interesting in that it calls out and discusses his habitually slow starts. I wonder if the staff is considering this pattern of his while evaluating him this preseason?

As Red Wings' blueline battle rages on, Filip Hronek trying...

 

[Blueliner70]

I really, really like Sulak. I'm hoping it is him. But he also needs minutes.

 

[lhsgolf19]

heck of an audition for the young guns tonight

 

[Snuggs]

I mean it's whatever at this point, I disagree with about half of what you've said but it's fine. You've clearly man-crushed Cholowski, An take a lot of stock into preseason hockey. Ignoring what a player does through different leagues against better competition is a hell of a thing to ignore for five games of here and now pre-season hockey. But I get your reasoning and he's fitting the bill so far in preseason.

But I'll agree that if coaches think he's better, then you play the better player. Doesn't matter about how much time was spent somewhere. I hope he's better! I think Hronek is good so that'd mean Cholowski is top line material.