Detroit Red Wings: Dennis Cholowski will overcome defensive woes

When Dennis Cholowski made the Detroit Red Wings opening night roster, it came to many including myself as a surprise.  Later in the year he was sent back to Grand Rapids to work on the defensive side of his game.

Dennis Cholowski was extremely impressive during the Detroit Red Wings training camp that active play continued into the preseason and carried over into the regular season.  He played well enough that even if the Wings were utterly healthy on the backend to start the season, he would have still had a spot on the team.

The Wings were not healthy on the backend which allowed the organization to have a look at a plethora of young defensemen.  Along with Cholowski, Libor Sulak, Joe Hicketts, Filip Hronek all played with the Winged Wheel across their chest.

Dennis Cholowski was very impressive; Mike Green was sidelined with a liver virus to start the season allowing Cholowski to anchor the teams’ top power-play unit.  He showed he’s got remarkably good vision for a young player.

More from Octopus Thrower

• Detroit Red Wings forward Carter Mazur injured in Prospect Tournament
• Detroit Red Wings: What does Klim Kostin’s role look like in 2023-24?
• Detroit Red Wings: 3 players who will make biggest impact in first year
• The Detroit Red Wings need Andrew Copp to start fast in 2023-24
• Detroit Red Wings had a busy off-season; but was it enough?

He’s an above average skater that doesn’t panic under pressure.  He was able to make a few beautiful tape to tape passes under pressure in the neutral zone.  Another benefit was his willingness to skate the puck out of the defensive zone, something players like Jonathan Ericsson, in particular, are unable to do.

Cholowski will be able to thrive in this new wide-open style of NHL.  The league is quicker than ever before; I feel you need players on the backend who can rush the puck on a regular basis.  Dennis fits that bill; his weakness though was his defensive zone coverage.

Mid-way through the regular season, he was paired with veteran Mike Green who is anything but a defensive defenseman.  The pair were playing as the teams’ top defensive pairing but often struggled to identify the correct defensive zone coverage.  More times than not the pair were digging the puck out of the back of their own net.

Shortly after that Jeff Blashill decided to demote the young budding star defenseman to the third pairing.  He was spending time paired with three separate veteran defensemen Niklas Kronwall, Trevor Daley, and Jonathan Ericsson.

Eventually, the Detroit Red Wings decided it would be best if Cholowski spent some time in Grand Rapids working on the defensive side of his game.  He was swapped out with Filip Hronek who excelled with his opportunity.

The entire organization hoped that the young Detroit Red Wings prospects would endure a long playoff run with the Grand Rapids Griffins, but unfortunately, it would only last five games.  I expect Cholowski to start next season back in Detroit playing like a top-four defenseman more by default than production.  For many young defensemen, it takes time and patience before they reach their full potential.

Dennis Cholowski played 52 games with the Wings last season recording 16 points.  He was a minus -20 while averaging 18:15 TOI a night.  His CF% was a touch below average but not horrible considering who he was playing with at 49.6%.