Notes: Cholowski gets second preseason opportunity against Bruins

DETROIT -- Defenseman Dennis Cholowski gets his second chance to state his case to the Detroit Red Wings tonight against the Boston Bruins at Little Caesars Arena.
Cholowski had two assists in the Wings' 3-2 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday night.

"I thought the first game went pretty well and keep it going tonight," Cholowski said after Saturday's morning skate.
The Penguins did not bring too many NHL players with them but the Bruins have a few more on their roster.
Among them are forwards David Krejci, Lee Stempniak, Daniel Winnik and Danton Heinen; they also will have defensemen Zdeno Chara and Steven Kampfer. Kampfer played at the University of Michigan.
Wings coach Jeff Blashill was already paying close attention to Cholowski and other young defensemen like Libor Sulak, Joe Hicketts and Filip Hronek, but with the uncertainty surrounding defenseman Mike Green, that has intensified.
"I think coming into the camp, I made it clear that jobs are open," Blashill said. "That doesn't mean that anything's being given away. It means that guys that are returning have to be better or guys that are young and new have to come in and take it. I think the fact that it looks like Mike will miss the beginning of the year means that's another job that's open. It certainly would be motivation, I would say, to seize the moment here."
The Wings announced Friday that Green is out indefinitely due to a virus that has attacked his liver.
Cholowski said his confidence is at a much greater level than it was a year ago.
"Last year I was a young kid, first camp, and I thought I did pretty well but got sent back to junior," Cholowski said. "This year the confidence is up, had a good prospects tournament and carrying that over into exhibition."
Confidence was the first thing Blashill mentioned when he was asked about Cholowski.
"I think he's at a real confident spot with the puck, he's got great puck poise," Blashill said. "He's got real good ability to make plays with the puck, both passing the puck out of his zone, scoring from the offensive blue line. I've seen lots of confidence out of him. When I first saw him play, he controlled the whole play because he held onto the puck the whole time. The next year he didn't hold onto it as much. Now he's back to holding onto it until he's ready to make a play. That's a great thing, it's something we don't have lots of.
"So what does he need to do to win a job? Night by night, make a big impact on the game. I think overall he's done a pretty good job of that. He's just got to have a real positive impact every night."
It might have been disappointing last season to get sent back to his junior hockey team but it also allowed Cholowski to be a leader first for the Prince George Cougars and then for the Portland Winterhawks.
In 69 games played between the two teams, Cholowski had 14 goals and 52 assists.
"This year in the WHL was a big year for me," Cholowski said. "Really got my confidence up. Was doing that every game and tried to translate it over here and I think it's been going well so far. Hopefully I can keep doing it and see what happens."
Cholowski was so dedicated that he spent his own money to spend the summer in the metro Detroit area, staying at a hotel and working out with some of the Wings at Barwis Methods.
"This is a big year for me," Cholowski said. "I'm looking to get a job on the team. I'm going to do everything I can to do it."
The Wings are well aware of the commitment that Cholowski showed, which speaks to his character. However, he still has to get it done on the ice.
"It's hard to be an NHL player in today's game and it's hard to be an elite player in today's game if you don't have extraordinary drive and commitment," Blashill said. "Guys are on the ice earlier than ever in the summer. The reports of the stars throughout the league being on the ice, working on stuff, in early July is amazing. It's what golfers do all the time. It's what goalies have done for 15 years. Now I think it's what players are starting to do. They're realizing in order to get better at something, you need tons of reps and the only time you get that kind of reps is in the summer.
"I thought it showed real good commitment by him. It certainly gave him a chance to put himself in position to compete for a job. Now he's still got to go out and play great though. Just doing that doesn't get you the spot, you got to come out and play great and I think he's done a pretty good job of that so far."
Cholowski will get his second shot of the preseason against the Bruins. To begin, he'll be paired with Dylan McIlrath but Blashill said that is subject to change.
Sulak will also get his second chance and Hicketts will play in his third game.
ZADINA PLAYS AGAIN: Filip Zadina wasn't thrilled with his first preseason game, a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks Thursday.
Zadina played 16:12 and was not credited with a shot on goal.
He had a giveaway, a blocked shot and finished minus-1.
"I got lots of belief in Zadina," Blashill said. "I think his commitment level's real high, I think he's a real good player. I think he had a bit of a rough night the other night but it wasn't awful. It was a play here and a play there that we would remember and stand out to us. That's part of the growing process. I said to him yesterday, it's one game. A game doesn't make a camp, a game certainly doesn't make a career, whether it's great or bad, it doesn't matter. Learn from it. I think the biggest thing he has to learn, he wants to hold onto the puck, which is going to make him a good player, but he's got to learn how much space he has. It's much less than what he had in junior. So hopefully he can make that adaption real quick."
At least initially, Zadina will be on a line with Joe Veleno and Gustav Nyquist.
"I think part of it is I want him to get more preseason games than some of the other guys," Blashill said. "I'd like to see Zadina in five and (Thomas) Vanek's probably going to play three and (Andreas Athanasiou)'s probably going to play four. So you're putting him with different people at that point. Then I want to try to put him in positions that he would be in during the year where he's playing with some skilled players and see what he can do."
KRONWALL PLAYS: Last season veteran defenseman Niklas Kronwall missed the first three games of the regular season before playing in the final 79.
He hopes to continue where he left off.
"Right now, so far going on the ice I feel pretty good," Kronwall said. "If I can stay this way, I'll take it. Last year was the first year in some time that I felt I was able to somewhat move again and I'm hoping to build off that. It's been a good summer of training. I've been able to do what I needed to and what I wanted to. Now it's just about going out there and competing."
A veteran of Kronwall's status who has dealt with chronic knee issues could certainly limit himself to only one preseason game.
"I'm hoping to get a few in actually and then we'll go from there," Kronwall said." Definitely would like to get a few in, get a feel for the game again. It's been way too long a summer and it's going to be a little rusty once the games get going, so you'd like to get a few in to get it into it again."
Kronwall will get his first game tonight against Boston.