Detroit Red Wings: Cholowski and Rasmussen In and DeKeyser Returns

It seems the Detroit Red Wings have seen enough from Dennis Cholowski and Michael Rasmussen to grant them roster positions on opening night.

The Detroit Red Wings set to play their eight and final preseason game tonight will field a line-up that will be minus a lot of regulars. Also not expected to play are prospects Dennis Cholowski and Michael Rasmussen.

The Wings should have seen enough throughout the preseason to realize Dennis Cholowski deserves not only to make the team out of camp, but he also has top 4 potential when you compare him to all the other options the Wings have on the back-end.

Cholowski isn’t the biggest guy, but he has demonstrated time and time again his escape ability. He has often been able to skate himself out of trouble through traffic with confidence. The Detroit Red Wings need defenders who can skate and create with their legs.

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Cholowski has also shown the ability to quarterback an NHL caliber power play unit. He has soft hands, allowing him to feather in nice touch passes, teeing up one time for his teammates. Cholowski is second on the Detroit Red Wings with 6 preseason points.

Last evening on the power play, Cholowski was skating the puck through the neutral zone when three leafs started to converse to him. He slipped a beautiful pass through traffic and landed a lead pass on the stick of Gustav Nyquist. Nyquist flew into the Toronto zone and capitalized on the opportunity which at the time, tied the game at one.

When camp opened, Filip Hronek had the best opportunity to make the team with his experience last season in Grand Rapids. It seems Hronek will be heading back to GR to work on somethings. He hasn’t been horrible or anything, he’s shown a few flashes of NHL level play, but Dennis Cholowski has been spectacular.

Joe Hicketts played 5 games last season, believe it or not, trust me Blashill will take that cup of coffee into consideration. Hicketts has been solid all camp; he has a bit of a limited offensive upside compared to the other three he is competing with.

With Jonathan Ericsson ( Red Wing’s fans somewhere smile) and Trevor Daley, both questionable for opening night and Mike Green already ruled out Detroit needs two young defenders. Hicketts looks like he will be the second as long as he escapes tonight with a solid outing and avoids any injury.

Libor Sulak looked impressive for the first half of camp and had sort of cooled off some since. He will be an NHL defenseman at some point, but I think he’s fallen down the pecking order to third. Expect Sulak and Hronek to be the first pairing in Grand Rapids to start this season. Both will be ready if injuries to the big club occur.

Michael Rasmussen has shown enough to be a top nine forward this season for the Detroit Red Wings. That combined with having to be sent back to junior hockey leads to the Wings decision to want to keep him. Rasmussen doesn’t have the option to be sent to Grand Rapids like Zadina. It sort of helps Detroit choose one over the other. They both have an opportunity to make the team, but big Ras will be on the club opening night.

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The Wings almost needed three of the four young defenders, but it looks like all systems go for Danny DeKeyser. DeKeyser will be the Wings number one defenseman until Mike Green returns. DeKeyser should log his fair share of top minutes even with a healthy Green. He will be in the line-up tonight against the Leafs for the preseason finale.

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