Detroit Red Wings: Dennis Cholowski Spewing Confidence
By Bob Heyrman
Dennis Cholowski broke onto the scene early this season during the Detroit Red Wings training camp in Traverse City and hasn’t looked back.
The Detroit Red Wings power-play has been oddly enough clicking to start the season. The Wings struggled mightily in years past to score goals and convert on the PP. Cholowski showed up to camp this summer and provided a much-needed spark to the back-end.
Cholowski was expected to start the season and projected to play the entire season down in the American Hockey League with the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Griffins would not get the luxury of Cholowski’s poise and vision because he skipped the AHL altogether.
He was shown terrific confidence for the Wings all season long. Jeff Blashill leaned on Dennis heavily early on in the season with all the injuries that would occur. Mike Green and Danny DeKeyser were expected to log the top minutes for the Wings on a nightly basis, but both were sidelined for an extended amount of time.
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Niklas Kronwall, Trevor Daley, and Jonathan Ericsson have all missed time. The Wings needed to look to Libor Sulak, Joe Hicketts, Filip Hronek and of course Dennis Cholowski to fill the void. Cholowski was playing huge minutes early and proved to his coaching staff he could handle the pressure and minutes.
He was forced to play against the oppositions top line and held his own. He isn’t the biggest kid he is a 6 foot, 195-pound defender. He is an excellent skating defender who doesn’t mind skating the puck out of trouble. He can weave through traffic without getting the jitters and turning the puck over. He skates with his head up and is able to connect on safe firm passing plays to exit the zone.
On the powerplay, Cholowski has been fantastic. In years past the Wings have worked on the half wall so much looking to a player in the slot. Many times trying to feather the puck into the slot from the wall ends with the opposition clearing the puck down the ice. If you don’t have the confidence to swing it around to the point the defenders cram that slot area and make it difficult to find the player hanging in the slot.
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Cholowski has been able to headman the PP from the point, moving the puck quickly to both walls and ripping point shots when he finds a shooting lane. The puck movement has been exceptionally better this season on the PP. Last season it was more cradle, look, look, and force to no avail. This season it’s moving around the horn much better.
Through his first 14 games, Cholowski has posted 2 goals, 6 assists for 8 points. He is a minus 5 on the season.