In Red Wings Land

Winless Red Wings pull positives from West Coast trip | Detroit News

Dennis Cholowski is here to stay, he’s played well. Filip Hronek and Libor Sulak have had ups and downs, though both have shown NHL-ability mostly, and getting sent back to Grand Rapids, you wonder how beneficial that really would be. Joe Hicketts appears low man on the totem pole among the four young defensemen, and could be the first one returned to the AHL.

What’s been impressive about the four is they’ve been aggressive, not afrad to make mistakes, they’ve played physical, and particularly in Cholowski’s case, they’ve injected offense into the equation, particularly on the power play.

Without question, I think watching the four young defensemen learn on the job at the NHL level has been one of the most enjoyable parts of the Red Wings short season so far. Ted Kulfan is correct when he says Cholowski is here to stay. That kid has been an overall positive addition on the ice this year. I also agree with the notion that sending down Hronek and/or Sulak to play in the AHL might not actually be that beneficial to their development.

Around the League

Definitive ranking of NHL’s top 20 goalies over three seasons | Sportsnet

Well, hello there, Jimmy Howard. I was not expecting to see you on this list.