Red Wings Grades: The Young Defensemen
Dennis Cholowski
2021 Statline
Games Played: 16
Goals: 1
Assists: 3
+-: -1
Preseason Projection
Top Grand Rapids defenseman, borderline NHLer
2021 Season in a Nutshell
Dennis Cholowski’s past few years have been a rollercoaster with the Red Wings. He’s been back and forth between the Wings and the Griffins. He’s come close to cracking the roster a few times, but his defensive lapses keep reappearing. This year was much of the same. Cholowski spent more than half the season in Grand Rapids, billed as their best “offensive defenseman” and acting as the quarterback of the powerplay, scoring three goals and notching seven assists during that time.
After the trade deadline, Cholowski finally got the call to Detroit. In 13 games, Cholowski managed to nab a goal and three assists. But he stilled looked a bit uncomfortable on the ice at times, seemingly afraid to try what worked in Grand Rapids. There were also a few of those defensive lapses the organization tried to work out of him with the Griffins – although they were significantly rarer than they had been in the past.
They Said It
“The first thing (you notice) is the strength and the transformation of his body type by the hard work in the gym. You see it carry over on the ice into a more explosive first step. He seems to be harder to push around, in front of the net and in battles. He’s strong on his stick. He’s a hard-working guy and he’s done a lot to improve his game.”
-Captain Dylan Larkin via the Detroit News
Final Grade
DENNIS CHOLOWSKI. C. Cholowski’s 2020-21 season is a tough one to grade. He’ll tell you himself how disappointed he was to spend yet another season in the minors. In Grand Rapids he looked fantastic, and in Detroit he showed flashes of what kind of defenseman he can be. But Cholowski has yet to look truly comfortable at the NHL level. If he isn’t picked up by the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft, Cholowski is going to have to show some <a rel=. Defenseman. Detroit Red Wings
Gustav Lindstrom
2021 Statline
Games Played: 13
Goals: 0
Assists: 3
+-: 1
Preseason Projection
Borderline NHLer
2021 Season in a Nutshell
Like Cholowski, Gustav Lindstrom spent a good chunk of his season in Grand Rapids. Because of his defensive style, Lindstrom didn’t quite have the stats that Cholowski did with the Griffins, but he did show promise as a low-risk reliable player on the blue line.
After appearing on the main roster, Lindstrom essentially lived up to those expectations. While his possession metrics are a bit ugly (40.8 CF%), the eye test showed a player relatively comfortable as a low-pairing NHL defenseman. Lindstrom made clean tape-to-tape passes (The best of which being a slick slide to Jakub Vrana for his first goal of the season) and didn’t make too many defensive mistakes.
They Said It
“I don’t want to downplay the word ‘simple’ … I would say he just tends to make the right play. The right play might be the simple play and the right play might be a cross-seam play. He just makes the right play that’s available and manages risk-reward real well.”
-Jeff Blashill via the Detroit News
Final Grade
Detroit Red Wings. GUSTAV LINDSTROM. C+. It wasn’t flashy or exciting, but Lindstrom’s appearance on the main roster was solid. While he didn’t drive the offense quite like Cholowski, he played a safe and reliable defensive game, something that fits well into Jeff Blashill’s system. The problem with Lindstrom is, this is likely all fans will ever see: a safe bottom-pairing option. His upside is not very high, but it is a good sign that he already looks comfortable on an NHL team. With the expansion draft approaching, Lindstrom could very well be a casualty lost to Seattle. But if he’s not, he’ll probably stay on the main roster next year, continuing to make those crisp passes and playing it safe with the team’s bottom pairings.. Defenseman
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