The pro game is proving a trickier nut to crack than some thought it would be for Joe Hicketts. But the undrafted Victoria Royals blue-liner is intent to keep hammering away at it, whether it takes a mallet or jackhammer.
The Detroit Red Wings have returned Hicketts to junior and he will make his 2014-15 Western Hockey League season debut in the Royals home openers Friday and Saturday against the Kamloops Blazers at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Although Detroit decided not to keep him for the NHL exhibition season, Hicketts feels he made a statement during the Red Wings’ NHL prospects and main camps.
“They liked my play in those camps. I think I left a good impression,” said the five-foot-eight Hicketts, who received a free-agent invite to the Detroit camps and was the smallest player there.
Hicketts is on the Red Wings’ free-agent protected list, but NHL clubs have until Oct. 1 to sign their protected free agents before they again become free.
“I’ll see where it goes,” said the native of Kamloops, entering his third season with the Royals after being selected by the club in the first round of the 2011 bantam draft.
“Detroit can either sign me, or I can go back into the [2015 NHL] draft if nothing happens. It’s more motivation to do better.”
>>> GET MORE VICTORIA ROYALS COVERAGE
Hicketts got a glimpse of what it takes to reach the next level: “You have to be so quick on the puck in the pros and move it fast. And you have to win the battles along the boards.”
One thing you notice is you can’t call him by one of his old nicknames. Jumbo Joe is now Jet Joe. Hicketts played at nearly 200 pounds after returning from a lengthy injury midway through last season, which limited him to 36 regular-season games and almost certainly compromised his prospects in the 2014 NHL draft. Hicketts is now down to 170 pounds and said he consulted a nutritionist over the summer and is “eating healthy.”
“I feel a little more jump. I feel quicker and faster,” said Hicketts, who scored two goals for the Red Wings rookie team during a prospects tournament in Traverse City, Mich.
“I have less weight but more muscle mass.”
Travis Brown, another mobile puck-moving defenceman who skated in an NHL camp this year with the Ottawa Senators before being returned, leads the Royals (0-2) in scoring with two goals and three points. Victoria is hoping to get similar production out of the offensive-thinking Hicketts.
“There’s going to be a lot of emotion in the building Friday because it’s the home opener,” said Hicketts.
“We need to overcome that and not get too high … We need a good first period.”
Victoria forward Brandon Magee has also been returned from the Calgary Flames, but is in the midst of a 12-game suspension to start the WHL season.
Royals remaining in pro camps are NHL-signed forward Axel Blomqvist with the Winnipeg Jets, signed defenceman Keegan Kanzig with the Calgary Flames and free-agent forward Austin Carroll with the Flames.
ICE CHIPS: Royals forward Tyler Soy and defenceman Chaz Reddekopp are among the 42 WHL players cited in Central Scouting’s preliminary list of players to watch for in the 2015 NHL draft. Both Royals have been given ‘C’ rankings, which indicates probable candidates for the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds. The rating of ‘B’ is for the second- and third-round probables and ‘A’ for projected first-rounders … Royals forward Jack Palmer now has two goals in two games after the league awarded him a goal initially given to teammate Mitch Skapski in the season-opening 6-3 loss last Friday.
