Hickey question

[VegasHockey]

Originally Posted by Captain Brown

Another thing, I k now most of you in USA didn't get to watch the 8 game Canada vs Russia series last Summer, where we beat them 7 outta the 8 games, and tied the last one.

You're Canadian? I don't believe I knew that.

[Ecktore]

Originally Posted by VegasHockey

You're Canadian? I don't believe I knew that.

Not only is he Canadian, but he was part of the Canadian hockey team!

[RockPile]

Originally Posted by Captain Brown

Ok ok, I know a lot of you might not agree with me, but I've watched hickey for quite some time, and during the two world Junior Tournaments where Team Canada won Gold, if Doughty hadn't won Top Defenseman of the tournament, Hickey or Schenn would've for sure..

Another thing, I k now most of you in USA didn't get to watch the 8 game Canada vs Russia series last Summer, where we beat them 7 outta the 8 games, and tied the last one. Hickey was amazing in that tournament, and there's a reason why we took him at #4 in the draft ahead of other higher ranked players.

I love drew Doughty, and I love Thomas hickey, but just wait till training camp is over, and then make the remarks on Hickey, until then, lets just see how he does first fellas.


Hickey isn't as offensive as Doughty, but has can still QB a PP, he QB'ed the PP for Canada at the world junors from time to time, and had a very slick one time pass to Kyle Turris for a goal top shelf.

Both players are great, and in the long run, Doughty will be better.

But Thomas Hickey has a much better all around game than Doughty, Doughty's skills level is much better, but HICKEY can QB a PP, and his passing is unbelievable, it's always accurate and right on the tape, and hes one player you can count on to get the puck outta the zone in key situations, especially on the PK. Him and Luke Schenn demolished every top line the the opposition put out against them for two straight World Junior Hockey Tournaments, and they were one of the key reason's Canada even beat Sweden in the the GOLD!

I honestly think Hickey could make this team easily, if he brings his game at camp and is completely over his foot injury........... just look at our defense, the only reason he wont make it is because our defense is so weak, and Lombardi doesn't want a bunch of rookies on his blue line, and can't take that chance. But if he goes out and somehow gets a good veteran Defenseman, Hickey will make the team, Trust me, Hickey would be much better than Denis Gauthier. Gauthier is old, slow and lays the occasional big hit, but he does a lot of talking,and walks away from fights.

Another thing, Dl is smart, and thinks ahead big time, just think how good Luke Scheen and Hickey were together on the PK....DL realises this, and in a year or two, it will be Coltten Tebuert and Hickey shutting down all the top lines, and killing off penalties. (again, I'm talking in a couple of years, say 2010 - or 2011.

The only thing that bothers me, is Jonathan Bernier, because our defense is not very experienced, we have basically Rookies and a washed up Veteran in Gauthier, and Matt Greene(unless he explodes and becomes an all star d man, which will never happen) ..... we could be in trouble...Pressing, and Harrold , while Harrold is questionable and still his not experienced to the NHL Game yet and our stud Jack Johnson. Again another dman that is very young, only his 2Nd year.

This unexperienced Defense man Corp makes me wonder about Bernier, can he handle facing 40 shots a night for another season? We really don't want to hurt his confidence and ruin him for the future. Sure if we had a defense like Detroit, or Anaheim, Bernier could possibly led us to the cup, because our team scores a lot of goals, weren't we like in the top 7 in goals last year, and I think this year we will score even more.


I'm sure DL sees this, and I hope he has a future plan in mind, or he just isn't cut out to rebuild this team. In my opinion every team in our division got better aside from us and Anaheim.....well they pretty much stayed the same.

But one thing is for sure, in 2010 and 2011, LA and and our rivals and the team I hate the most PHX will be Contenders...I hate them so much because my best friend is a long time Winnipeg Jets fan and now a die Hard PHOENIX COYOTES FAN, and I he thinks Phx will make the playoffs this year, and I'll never hear the end of it, in the long run, we will demolish them, even if we had a good goalie this year, we still could challenge for a playoff spot, but our defense is too young and inexperienced...So its better to be bad for one more year, and get another star draft pick, and then go by locking up our star players to long term deals, then signing a few key UFA"s, and by that time Bernier should be ready, but in the mean time, if we don't get a veteran goalie, lets just hope Ernsberg is the answer!!



NOW, Just Take a look at Phoenix's Lineup as of now,




FORWARD LINES :



1st LINE: SHANE DOAN OLI JOKINEN KYLE TURRIS
2nd LINE: MIKKEL BOEDKER PETER MUELLER DANIEL CARCILLO (KID LINE)
3rd LINE: MARTIIN HANZAL STEVE REINPRECT ENVER LISIN
4th LINE: BRIAN MCGRATTON DANIEL WINNIK TODD FEDOREK (GOON LINE)




DEFENSE PAIRINGS:



PAIR #1 DEREK MORRIS ED JOVANIVSKI

PAIR #2 ZBYNAK MICHALEK KEITH YANDLE

PAIR #3 KURT SAUER MATT JONES



GOALIES



#1: ILYA BRYZGALOV

#2 AL MONTOYA

#3 MIKAEL TELIQVIST



PHX is also loaded with some top Forward prospects just as our Kings are..



KEVIN PORTER (NCAA Hobby Baker Award Winner. Named to the ALL-CCHA 1ST PLAYER TEAM, and also Named the CCHA PLAYER OF THE YEAR. Scored 22 goals and 22 assists for 42 pts, which is excellent scoring marks for NCAA Hockey, this kid is a bright future.)

BRETT MACLEAN (62GP 61G 58A 119PTS with Oshawa in the OHL. Outscored his teammate John Tavares. Has been a scoring machine at every level he has ever played.

VIKTOR TIKHONOV, (Drafted in 1st Round 28th Overall in 2008 Draft. Was Team Russia's Leading Scorer at this years World Junior Championships and was named Tournament Most Valuable Player.)

ALEX BORRETT Drafted in 1st Round - 16th Overall in 2005. Amazing Stats as a RW in the QMJHL, basically a scoring machine, and excelled at all levels. He played with the Shawingan Cataractes in his last year of Junior Hockey in the QMJHL and his statistics were : 67GP 44G 70A 114Pts 133PIM. Phoenix Coyotes GM - Don Maloney loves the young right winger and has high hopes for him. He just hopes he can live and play up to his potential. If Borrett can stay healthy and continue to play his well rounded game, Expect to see him in the mix with the Coyotes sooner rather than later.)



Here are some of their Defense Prospects as welll...


NICK ROSS (Candidate to make Team Canada's WJ Hockey Team this year, Drafted -1st Round 30 Overall in 07)

CHRIS SUMMERS (Drafted 1st Round - 26 Overall in 07 Draft, Was Assistant Captain for Team USA at last years World Juniors. Phoenix wants him bad, and he is ready to make the jump and they are tying to get him to leave University where he plays NCAAA Hockey with the Michigan Wolverines.)




I only did this write up on Phoenix basically to compare our team to theirs. They definitely have the edge in goal tending and our forwards I would say are fairly equal, but Phoenix definitely has more Leadership and Veteran's upfront. We kill them with our defensive prospects, and once Bernier Matures and our defense get more experienced, we'll be so much better than them. Again this year, I see Phoenix possibly making the playoffs, and well finish ahead of us. We both have similar teams, but the key is to build from the back end out, and that is totally what DL is doing, in 3 years, look out for our defense, and that's not to say what UFA"s we will b ring in. LA is a more attractive place than PHX, and we have a young team with loads of potential.

Overall, in the long run, we have a much better future than phoenix I think, Jovanovski's days are coming to an end, just as Blake's days did in LA. Bryzgalov is not a goalie that can win you a cup, especially with Phoenix D, and they don't have any potential star D-Prospects on their blue line, we have, Jack Johnson, Colten Teubert, Thomas Hickey, Drew Doughty, and Voinov( who will really excel has game playing on a strong Moncton team in QMJHL. Our Prospects at the forward level are fairly even, but that's only because we drafted from the goalie out, we did it the right way.

[KingFanMGM]

Your hijackers made me crave a tootsie roll pop...

[Ecktore]

Okay, okay. Let's bring this thread back to it's original topic.
This should answer all your questions about a hickey:

How to Give a Hickey and Hiding a Hickey

[Captain Brown]

The point of my post was to show that Hickey has just as much of a chance to make the kings team as Doughty does, and the way that our kings defense stands right now, with a washed up veteran like Gauthier, there's no reason why Hickey isn't better suited to make the team over Gauthier.

If it wasn't for us defensive core being so young and inexperienced, Hickey would make the team no problem, because he is just as ready as Doughty and honestly not far behind Harrold or even Matt Greene. There's a reason we took a chance on this kid and drafted him as high as we did, because we know he has huge potential and can be one hell of a shutdown defense man and penalty killer. He is so sound positionally every time in his zone, and can be trusted on to make the right decisions.

If we don't go out and sign or trade for another veteran d-man, for example, Schneider or Jay McKee, I doubt you will Hickey making the team out of camp. The kings coaching staff wouldn't want their blue line to be full of rookies and inexperienced defenseman. Right now, we besides Gauthier, and Pressing, the other 4 expected to make the team are either rookies or unproven NHL defenseman. If Hickey is Healthy and has a good training camp, there's no reason why we wouldn't keep him on as the 7th man.

[gescom]

Originally Posted by Captain Brown

The point of my post was to show that Hickey has just as much of a chance to make the kings team as Doughty does, and the way that our kings defense stands right now, with a washed up veteran like Gauthier, there's no reason why Hickey isn't better suited to make the team over Gauthier.

If it wasn't for us defensive core being so young and inexperienced, Hickey would make the team no problem, because he is just as ready as Doughty and honestly not far behind Harrold or even Matt Greene. There's a reason we took a chance on this kid and drafted him as high as we did, because we know he has huge potential and can be one hell of a shutdown defense man and penalty killer. He is so sound positionally every time in his zone, and can be trusted on to make the right decisions.

If we don't go out and sign or trade for another veteran d-man, for example, Schneider or Jay McKee, I doubt you will Hickey making the team out of camp. The kings coaching staff wouldn't want their blue line to be full of rookies and inexperienced defenseman. Right now, we besides Gauthier, and Pressing, the other 4 expected to make the team are either rookies or unproven NHL defenseman. If Hickey is Healthy and has a good training camp, there's no reason why we wouldn't keep him on as the 7th man.

the reason why is because you do not, under any circumstances keep a 19-year old kid as your #7 defenseman.

[Captain Brown]

Gescom,

He would only have to start out as our 6th, or 7th defense man, and he would then have to play his way up the line, maybe Hickey puts the work in and ends up pairing with Pressing or Jack Johnson and if he keeps his play up , maybe he sticks it out and is able to be stay on with 2nd pair on defense...We are going to have to give him Hickey a shot at some point, and if he doesn't make it out of camp, sometime this year he will get a chance to prove himself at the NHL level, whether he gets called up from Manchester or is brought on as the 7th d-man out of a camp and is given the chance to play his way up the defensive corp..

[Vilela]

Originally Posted by Captain Brown

Gescom,

He would only have to start out as our 6th, or 7th defense man, and he would then have to play his way up the line, maybe Hickey puts the work in and ends up pairing with Pressing or Jack Johnson and if he keeps his play up , maybe he sticks it out and is able to be stay on with 2nd pair on defense...We are going to have to give him Hickey a shot at some point, and if he doesn't make it out of camp, sometime this year he will get a chance to prove himself at the NHL level, whether he gets called up from Manchester or is brought on as the 7th d-man out of a camp and is given the chance to play his way up the defensive corp..

Hickey won't play in Manchester. Just saying.
And I agree with Gescom. You shouldn't put a young promissing D as the 7th defenseman. It's better to keep playing him in the juniors.