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.