The Detroit Red Wings did the expected Tuesday and sent Dennis Cholowski back to Prince George. For the Prince George Cougars and their fans that means Christmas came three months early.

The arrival of the 19-year-old Cholowski for what will be his first and likely only season in the Western Hockey League means the Cougars have filled the hole on defence left when Brendan Guhle left to turn pro with the Buffalo Sabres and their AHL affiliate in Rochester.

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"We're getting a pretty special hockey player," said Cougars general manager Todd Harkins. "He looked like he belongs in the NHL in training camp and they just wanted him to come down here and play minutes and learn the game at a different level and get confidence.

"As we've seen in the past when the NHL guys come back to the WHL, there is an adjustment (period) - you think they're going to dominate but they kind of struggle a bit. He's going to have to find his way in this league and he will, and the sooner the better for us.

"His ability to control the game from the back end is going to be special not only for us but for him learning the game and getting the opportunity to get to the NHL next year. All of our young defencemen will benefit from watching him and learning from him."

Cholowski is expected to join the Cougars Friday in Seattle, where they kick off a three-game road trip against the defending league champion Thunderbirds.

The six-foot-two, 200-pound native of Langley played three NHL preseason games for the Wings and picked up his first assist in a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Monday in Detroit. The Wings made Cholowski the 20th overall pick in the 2016 NHL draft.

"I just had a really good summer working out and getting bigger and stronger," Cholowski told the Detroit Free Press. "That built my confidence. Then going into training camp and being able to play well and get some exhibition games - confidence is everything. Confidence is building and I am trying to keep it on an upward direction."

Cholowski signed with Detroit over the summer, ending his U.S. college career. The Wings figure a season playing junior in the WHL for the Cougars will allow him to blossom as a puck-moving defenceman.

"The big step he's got to take is controlling the play," said Wings head coach Jeff Blashill, in the Free Press. "He has the ability to have the puck on his stick lots, make tons of plays, not just kind of be out there and make good breakout passes. There is nothing wrong with that, but I think he can be way more than that if he takes command."

The Cougars locked up Cholowski's WHL rights in the 2013 bantam draft when they picked him in the 10th round. He played two seasons in the BCHL for the Chilliwack Chiefs before moving on to the NCAA last year at St. Cloud State. He showed his offensive touch as an 18-year-old with the Chiefs in 2015-16 when he scored 12 goals and 40 points in 50 games. He wrapped up his brief NCAA career after just one season with the Huskies, collecting a goal and 12 assists in 36 games and was called up late in the season to play one game for the Wings' AHL farm team in Grand Rapids.

Cholowski's willingness and ability to create offence from the back end make the comparisons to Guhle obvious. As a 19-year-old, Guhle arrived 15 games into the season last November in a trade from the Prince Albert Raiders. He was limited by an ankle injury to 32 regular-season games for the Cougars, totaling 13 goals and 16 assists for 29 points and a plus-17 rating. He also had six assists in six playoff games, after being called up for a three-game stint in the NHL in January by the Sabres.

"Brendan was a great player for us - he's an offensive player that goes real hard and knows how to do it, he just had to learn to defend a little bit and with his step to Rochester it's only a matter of time before he's back in the NHL," said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk.

"Dennis might be a step ahead of where Brendan was and for us it's exciting times. He had a fantastic camp and it's just a matter of him settling in and playing 72 games instead of 36 at the college level and getting him ready for pro."

The Cougars also play in Portland Sunday afternoon and in Kamloops Wednesday night before they head for home. The bus left Wednesday night and Matvichuk still hadn't decided who will be paired with Cholowski. There's a scarcity of right-handed shooting defencemen on the team which makes it likely the left-shooting Cholowski will be asked to play on the right side.

"(Cats second-year defenceman) Ryan Schoettler is really good on his off-side and watching Dennis the way he sees the ice, those two are going to be multi-minute guys for us," said Matvichuk. "The good thing is we're flexible back there. We have enough leadership now with Dennis coming back and enough strength that guys won't be playing the multiple minutes like some guys played in the first week and they can settle into their roles and develop."

Cougar fans should expect to see Cholowski wearing a letter on his jersey when he suits up for his first home games with the Cats at CN Centre to face Kelowna in a doubleheader next weekend.

"Dennis has a great head on his shoulders and he's been playing with 23- and 24-year-old kids basically for the last year-and-a-half and that experience kind of just flows," said Matvichuk. "He doesn't handle himself at all like a 19-year-old, he's above that and that's why he's going to be within our leadership group to take charge of our young guys."

Knowing Cholowski was coming back, the Cougars created space for him Wednesday when they traded 20-year-old Tate Olson to the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a third-round bantam pick in 2018. Olson, a native of Saskatoon, joined the Cougars full-time for the 2013-14 season. In 252 regular-season games the past four seasons he picked up 23 goals, 107 points and 236 penalty minutes. The Vancouver Canucks drafted him in 2015 in the seventh round, 210th overall. He was a second-round bantam pick of the Cougars, 24th overall, in 2012.

"Tate has been with us since he was 16 and was a key piece to our B.C. Division championship team last season," said Harkins. "With our youth movement on the blueline, coupled with our 20-year-old situation, we had to make a move. It's a great opportunity for Tate moving to the Hurricanes and the Eastern Conference, and we wish him all the best going forward."