As the Islanders begin camp, one of their biggest storylines is the opening at left defense. While most of the opening day roster is pretty much settled, the team’s sixth defenseman remains to be decided. One of Sebastian Aho, Robin Salo or Dennis Cholowski will be filling the role for the departing Zdeno Chara. The question is, which of those three players have the best chance at starting as the team’s sixth defenseman?
Dennis Cholowski is one of the few new faces joining the Islanders franchise this season. He played three seasons in Detroit before getting bounced around between Washington and Seattle last year. Cholowski has tremendous upside as an offensive oriented defenseman. He’s a great skater and puck mover and was even trusted to quarterback the power play in first two seasons in Detroit. The major flaw that’s prevented Cholowski from sticking around anywhere is his overall inconsistency.
He’s barely been a difference maker on the defensive side of the puck and even his offensive work has been trending downwards after a pretty solid rookie season. With his consistency still in question, it’ll take a grand showing at camp for him to win the starting job. And even then, the team may prefer to go with a player who’s already worked with this group in regular season action. That’ll give Salo and Aho the edge over Cholowski no matter how he performs in camp. There’s a good chance he’ll get to play NHL minutes at some point this season, but unlikely that he opens up as a starter.
Robin Salo had an impressive showing while Ryan Pulock dealt with an injury last season. For a rookie making his NHL debut, he looked really comfortable in his role. He scored a goal and got four assists during his 21 game stint, two of which were on the power play. Salo also played pretty well in his own end during that stint. He showed real flashes of being a great two-way defenseman with more development.
However, it wasn’t all sunshine and roses for Salo last season. After being sent back down to the AHL, Trotz expressed some disappointment in the quality of Salo’s game. He did turn it around and get another chance at the end of last season. But it’s clear that the coaching staff wants to see more out of Salo before they make him a regular. While it’s undeniable that Salo has a high ceiling, he’s going to have to show some development to win the job outright. The Islanders may be inclined to go with a more experienced option unless Salo really impresses the staff during camp and preseason play.
While playing a younger Salo may seem like the best possible option, that’s never really been the Islanders M-O. They’re a team that’s been inclined to give bigger roles to more battle tested options. And with that in mind, Sebastian Aho instantly becomes the favorite to win the job out of camp. He played a significant role down the stretch of last season, getting 12 points over 36 games.
At this point, everyone knows what Aho is as a defenseman. He’s a very offensive oriented player who isn’t the most comfortable in the defensive zone. Given the role he had towards the end of last season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the staff lean towards Aho as the starting option out of camp. Lane Lambert may not give him as much wiggle room if he struggles, but Aho having the most experience with the group will definitely give him an advantage over the other two options.
Featured image courtesy of Getty Images
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