Detroit Red Wings: 4 players to elevate after the trade deadline
By Bob Heyrman
The Detroit Red Wings need to keep Dennis Cholowski in the NHL.
The Detroit Red Wings recently called up their young defenseman for another stint in the NHL. Dennis Cholowski started his NHL career by default back in 2018-19 due to a plethora of injuries sustained on the back-end leading up to opening day.
Cholowski played 52 games in his rookie season before returning to Grand Rapids, mostly due to a healthy roster. Still, as the season wore on, Cholowski’s defensive zone weaknesses continued to be exposed.
In ’18-’19, head coach Jeff Blashill paired the young defender with Mike Green at times, Trevor Daley and Jonathan Ericsson, over the course of a few months. It became evident the young defender had above-average offensive instincts but struggled to identify defensive-zone coverage far too often.
Cholowski recorded seven goals and added nine assists totaling 16 points as a 20-year old. Last season Cholowski received another opportunity with the Red Wings scoring just two goals and totaling eight points in 36 contests but skated to a minus -26 rating.
The now 23-year old Cholowski is getting his third stint with the Red Wings as the organization tries to find an offensive spark. Over the past two games, Cholowski has averaged a mere 14:26 time on ice in the seven-man rotation, primarily working on the power-play.
Cholowski is started a whopping 81.3% of his five-on-five shifts in the offensive zone but owns a Corsi For Percentage of just 42.1%. Yikes.
If the Detroit Red Wings trade a defender at the deadline, possibly Marc Staal or maybe Jon Merill, there should be an opening for Cholowski with the big club for the remainder of the season.