Just like the NHL, junior leagues are in full swing, which makes for a great opportunity to check in on how some Wings prospects are doing! Every month I’ll be diving in and taking a look at 3 players currently having success and 3 players having struggles. 

Normally when players make the transition from Europe to North America, it takes a good amount of time for them to adjust to the new style across the pond. Larsson has made that transition look quite easy, as he has been nothing short of dominant for the Tri-City Storm of the USHL. In 6 games, Larsson has Posted a .943 save percentage and a 1.52 GAA en route to being named USHL goaltender of the week.

Sulak was a free agent signing by the Wings late last season, and the early results from the 23-year old blueliner have looked promising. Sulak has emerged as a go to guy for the Lahti Pelicans in the SM-Liiga, the top league in Finland. In his first 5 games, he has put up 5 points (1 goal and 4 assists) which included a monster performance where he amassed 3 points (1 goal and 2 assists) and made an impact in all aspects of the game.

Cholowski has made huge strides so far this season. Last season, Cholowski struggled throughout the year to produce offense in the NCAA, but that hasn’t been the case for him in the WHL. Playing in a much more prominent role, Cholowski has scored 14 points (5 goals and 9 assists) over the course of 13 games. He’s currently the Prince George Cougers leading scorer on defense, and third on the team overall. Very impressive when you consider the fact that he only had 12 points the entire year last season.

Coming off a neck injury, Svechnikov has found difficulty getting himself going. He hasn’t had that jump in his game that he typically does. And the score sheet is a good representation of his struggles thus far. In 5 games he has only scored 1 goal and no assists. It’s still early and he still has time to get back to his normal self, the question is when will that happen? My guess is sooner rather then later, mainly due to him getting more used to being back on the ice since his injury.

The big netminder the Wings selected in this past draft has found a hard time adjusting to the NCAA from the USHL. Playing for Quinnipiac University, Keith has put up a .907 save percentage and a 3.38 GAA over just 2 games played. The hope is that these were just two off games for him and the small sample size impacts his stats early on. Quinnipiac doesn’t have a star studded blue line in front of him by any means, but this rough start still falls on his back and it’s up to him to make improvements.

Ehn has always been known to be a very reliable defensive player, while the offensive side of his game has never really developed. He play an important role for the Frolunda Indians of the SHL last year, but this year things have been different. His 2 points in 14 games isn’t very impressive but that isn’t the issue for him this season. He has struggled to be the shutdown player we know him to be. This is a bit alarming, mainly because there isn’t anything we know of that may be throwing him off. Svechnikov is coming off injury, Petruzzeli switched leagues, but Ehn is in the same situation that he was in last year.