Red Wings prospect report: Dennis Cholowski, Malte Setkov coming along

Dennis Cholowski highlights the prospects in the Detroit Red Wings organization, but he has promising company.

During the Wings’ post-Thanksgiving trip to Madison Square Garden, I sat down with director of player development Shawn Horcoff, who was in town to watch defense prospect Kasper Kotkansalo and Boston University face off against Cornell on Saturday.

Here are some highlights from the conversation.

Eyes on Cholowski

There’s good buzz about defense prospect Dennis Cholowski (No. 20 overall, 2016), who plays for Prince George in the Western Hockey League. He had six goals and 14 assists for 20 points after 22 games, tied for first on the team in assists and second in points. As he's grown into his 6-foot-1 frame, the Wings are encouraging him to be bold. “We want him to be aggressive with the puck," Horcoff said. "He’s such a gifted skater and he’s got a great first pass. We want him to use that more.

“We’ve had a lot of eyes on him lately throughout the organization and he’s doing just that — he’s much more aggressive with the puck, breaking the puck out, and using his legs. He’s such a good passer, sometimes he just wants to make that first pass, but we’d really like him to use his legs more and drive the offense — try to bring a few more people to him and then just distribute when the play is there, and he is doing that really well.”

The Cougars aren’t doing great (9-11-2-2 entering Saturday’s game) and so it’s likely Cholowski, 19, will be traded. When his juniors season ends, look for him to join the Grand Rapids Griffins if they are still playing.

More: Detroit Red Wings like the looks of Michael Rasmussen, Dennis Cholowski

Rasmussen banged up

Forward Michael Rasmussen (No. 9 overall, 2017) has nine goals and 19 points in 16 games with the WHL's Tri-City Americans. The 6-foot-6 center had a very good camp with the Wings, getting some looks in a lineup loaded with regulars during exhibition season. Since returning to juniors, Rasmussen, 18, has had injury issues. “He’s been a little bit up and down,” Horcoff said. “Like any young player when they come back from their first NHL camp, there’s a little bit of a lull there. He got off to a bit of a tough start and he’ll be the first one to admit that, but he’s responded well lately. I’d like him to be as dominant as he can in that league. At his size, he should demand the puck below the top of the circles, take full control of it and when he’s doing that, that’s when he is at his best.”

Closer to home

Forward Evgeny Svechnikov (No. 19 overall, 2015) has two goals and four points in 14 games inGrand Rapids (8-9-0-2). Svechnikov, 21, had a good rookie pro year (20 goals, 12 playoff points) but it’s not uncommon for talented players to have a harder time in Year 2. “Svech has been struggling, for him,” Horcoff said. “He didn’t have the camp that he really wanted to have and then he got injured. It’s taken him a little while to get going but he’ll get going. We have full confidence in him.” Playoff MVP Tyler Bertuzzi (No. 58, 2013) is rounding into form after returning from injury — the 22-year-old has six points in nine games. “Bert’s been really, really good,” Horcoff said. “I was a little bit worried about him having the injury, but he’s been flying."

More: Preseason offers Wings prospect Evgeny Svechnikov chance to grow his game

Hronek & Saarijarvi

The plan back in September was that defensemen Filip Hronek (No. 53, 2016) and Vili Saarijarvi (No. 73, 2015) would be in Grand Rapids. Hronek is acclimating to his first full AHL season — he leads Griffins defensemen with seven points in 15 games. “He’s worked hard to put himself into the lineup and he’s been steadily getting more and more minutes and more and more responsibility,” Horcoff said. “Right now he’s on the second power play unit. He’s the type of player we feel has a chance of doing that at our level. But it’s not an easy league for a first-year guy to do that.” Saarijarvi has four points with Toledo, where he was sent partly because of a glut in Grand Rapids. “Having Vili go down is not an indication he is not playing well,” Horcoff said. “We don’t want to stall his development. He needs to play games.”

European report

While in Europe this fall, Horcoff checked in on Malte Setkov (No. 100, 2017), the 6-foot-6 Danish defenseman who has three points in nine games for Malmo. “He looked really good,” Horcoff said. “He’s in Malmo on the junior team but that game he played up on the men’s team. He grew even more — he’s a huge kid that can really skate, and has a good shot, good hockey sense, can make a good pass. He’s got a lot of tools. He’s a real good prospect for us.” Horcoff also caught up with defenseman Libor Sulak (signed as a free agent last spring), who had seven points in 10 games in the Finnish league. “He’s playing a ton of minutes and it looks like he is going to be on the Czech national team for the Olympics,” Horcoff said. Defenseman Gustav Lindstrom (No. 38, 2017) “is coming back from a shoulder injury," Horcoff said, "and should be on Sweden’s world junior team.”

More: Young defensemen intrigue at Detroit Red Wings development camp

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Check out our Red Wings Xtra app on Apple and Android!