Chris Cichocki

How could you not cheer for Chris Cichocki? The kid was born to play hockey. He even had the word hockey in his name!

The Detroit born Cichocki was one of the Red Wings prized catches in the summer of 1985. The Wings went on a spending spree that summer, signing several top undrafted collegiate players and turning them professional. Adam Oates turned out to be the only player worth the money. Ray Staszak, Dale Krentz, Tim Friday and, yes, Chris Cichocki all proved to be busts.

Perhaps "bust" is too strong a word for Cichocki. The Michigan Tech Husky grad did play 59 games in his rookie season, scoring 10 goals and 21 points. He certainly did not wow too many people in his NHL rookie season. His finesse skill set was just not of NHL quality. But he worked hard, never backing down and working hard in the corners and long the walls. He was a determined player who played admirably if unspectacularly.

Still, Cichocki could not parlay that into a longer NHL career. He did go onto a lengthy minor league career as a nice goal scorer. But he would only get into 2 more games with the Detroit, and a total of 7 more with New Jersey over the span of his career.