(No caption)


First-round draftee Dennis Cholowski, 19, is is a college freshman. (Detroit Red Wings photo)

To say the Wings just signed a fresh-faced defenseman is an understatement. And because the internet loves overstatement, slap shots about Dennis ("Cholly") Cholowski fly as fast as a speeding puck.

The rookie from British Columbia, whose 19th birthday was seven weeks ago and who's a freshman at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, signed a three-year deal Wednesday to play for Detroit. He's bigger than he looks (6-foot-1, 185 pounds), and trained at the Yale Hockey Academy in 2013-14 before two seasons with the Chilliwack Chiefs of the British Columbia Hockey League. 

The Wings, who picked him first in last June's NHL draft, boast admit he "was one of the youngest to compete in the NCAA this season."   

He sure looks it, right? "This man is fresh outta middle school," a Wings fan posts under Cholowski's photo at the team's Instagram page.

"That child is going to get eaten alive in Grand Rapids" when he starts on the minor league Griffins, sports blogger Jeff Moss tweets.


"There, that should do it," Scott White of Edmonton, Alberta, posts on the Wings' Facebook page.

Samples of more mirth flowing on social media:

► This is what happens when the Wings don't make the playoffs. We start drafting players out of "The Mighty Ducks" movies. -- Caine M. Conway

► Ah, youth! Good luck, young man. If you are a truly fierce defenseman, we'll nickname you Dennis the Menace. -- Christine Hammond, East Lansing

► Dude looks 13. --  Shane Ouimet

► Who is going to sign him out of pre-algebra every day? -- Kenric Freiwald

► Holy baby face. NHL'ers just don't look like they used to. -- Eric Downing, Middleville, Mich.

► Are you paying this guy in Similac and teething biscuits? Welcome to the big show, kid!. -- Rick Beigler

► Contract terms were a case of Wild Cherry Pepsi, a family size Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a Pokémon card starter set.. -- Zachary Chafetz, Ferndale

► Did his mom sign the permission slip? -- Evan Tykocki, Grand Blanc, Mich.

► Did you draft him out of Squirts? -- Jason Foster

►He is definitively going to get stuffed in a locker or two during training camp. -- Sunny Sandu

► I wonder if his mom is going to drive him to all his games. Send him off with a juice box and some animal crackers. --  Ren Ayy

► Guy's a beauty. Gonna look 25 when hes retires. -- "TaitSki"

► He looks like he is 10 years old. -- Dan Tack

► Does anyone else feel like his mom drove him to The Joe in her minivan? -- "Damsel in Designer" 

► Is that a throwback pic? -- "FiberThingy"

► Looks like he isn't even old enough to drive, let alone play in the NHL. -- "Aunt Geri"