One of the newest Detroit Red Wings took up hockey because his parents thought it would be good offseason training for football.
Years later, Keegan Kolesar is a Stanley Cup champion and a rugged NHL forward. Acquired by the Red Wings from the Vegas Golden Knights in a July 1 trade, the 6-foot-2, 216-pound Kolesar brings a football mentality to the ice.
You could say it’s in his DNA.
His father, Charles Peterson, was a highly recruited high school quarterback who instead chose baseball after being the first-round selection of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1993 MLB draft. Kolesar’s stepdad, K.D. Williams was a linebacker in the NFL and the CFL.
In his NFL debut for the Oakland Raiders, Williams picked off future Hall of Fame QB Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers. In the CFL with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Williams set a league single-game record, recording six tackles for loss.
The gridiron was looking like it would be Kolesar’s destiny as well. As a youngster, he was an inside linebacker for the North Winnipeg Nomads. Then one fateful day, almost by happenstance, he would end up at a hockey rink.
“My parents wanted me to stay in shape for football,” Kolesar said. “They said, ‘Well, let’s put him on ice skates to see if he can play.’
“I just did a complete 180 on them, and just said, ‘Hey, I don’t like football anymore.’
“All I honestly wanted to do was just to play with my best friends. You know, 20 years later, now here I am. It’s fun.
“I’m just a Canadian kid who wanted to play hockey. That’s all it is.”
Newest Red Wings Player a Punishing Hitter
He may have traded cleats for skates, but football still pulses through Kolesar. He’s one of the NHL’s hardest hitters.
Kolesar was seventh in the NHL with 270 hits last season. His hits per 60 minutes average was 17.12.
Since becoming an NHL regular in 2021-22, Kolesar has dished out 1,309 hits. That’s an average of 261.8 hits per season.
“Maybe that’s an element that I can bring that keeps people on their toes, keeps D men backing up more,” Kolesar said. “And when you have that, and you have a D man that’s going back to the puck over and over and over again, looking over his shoulder, sometimes you’re going to make a mistake.
“That’s when a good forecheck can lead to opportunity in the offensive zone.”
Kolesar is also quite willing to drop the mitts if he sees an opponent in need of an attitude adjustment. According to Hockeyfights.com, he’s fought 35 times as an NHLer.
“You try to bring guys into the fight every night,” Kolesar said. “I think guys look to the leaders of the team.
“If I can be one of those older guys that comes in and shows guys, you know, hey, like, we’re going to go in there to the trenches tonight and see who wants to follow me, maybe it uplifts the guys a little bit more.”