Wings sign Defenseman Joe Hicketts to Entry Level Contract.

[number9 3,297]

Adding small guys to the D only means he probably needs to be paired with one of the largest guys you have. He won't be able to push guys around in the D zone, so it's best to have a guy with a long reach, who can cover a lot of ice, next to him.

Chara - Krug is a good example in my mind.

Edited September 26, 2014 by number9

[kipwinger 8,495]

Adding small guys to the D only means he probably needs to be paired with one of the largest guys you have. He won't be able to push guys around in the D zone, so it's best to have a guy with a long reach, who can cover a lot of ice, next to him.

Chara - Krug is a good example in my mind.

I thought Chara and Boychuk were a pair? I never, ever, heard that Krug had been promoted to top pair minutes last year.

[number9 3,297]

I thought Chara and Boychuk were a pair? I never, ever, heard that Krug had been promoted to top pair minutes last year.

Part of me knew this was coming. I said that knowing they played on the PP together. I assumed they were paired together, at least occasionally, outside of that. I'm probably wrong, but I think the point I was trying to make still makes sense.

[WorkingOvertime 536]

Adding small guys to the D only means he probably needs to be paired with one of the largest guys you have. He won't be able to push guys around in the D zone, so it's best to have a guy with a long reach, who can cover a lot of ice, next to him.

Chara - Krug is a good example in my mind.

He was with paired with Nedomlel in Traverse City, and they worked well together.

[Ekmanc 586]

There are lots of smallish defenders who aren't paired with behemoths like Chara.

If Hicketts is good enough to play he can definitely make it work.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Ekmanc

[kipwinger 8,495]

Part of me knew this was coming. I said that knowing they played on the PP together. I assumed they were paired together, at least occasionally, outside of that. I'm probably wrong, but I think the point I was trying to make still makes sense.

I'd agree that in general you'd want a big guy paired with a little guy to help out in the d-zone. But the broader point would be that regardless of his partner, Hicketts (like Torey Krug) is too small to defend against NHL forwards and would have to be EXTREMELY sheltered. Krug, for instance, only played around 14:30 minutes per game at even strength. He just got a TON of icetime on the powerplay (led their team). So in a role like that, I could see Hicketts being viable. But at his size, unless he turns out to have Rafalski like passing, he should never be allowed to sniff top four minutes.

[nawein 324]

I feel dirty and weird about this but this is a family picture from his mom's very open to the public facebook account. As you can see, there's not much hope of him getting a whole lot bigger.

[kipwinger 8,495]

I feel dirty and weird about this but this is a family picture from his mom's very open to the public facebook account. As you can see, there's not much hope of him getting a whole lot bigger.

10351468_10152471952142095_956619021172076252_n.jpg

What a creep lol.

[nawein 324]

What a creep lol.

Lol I know. I was curious to see what we could potentially have and if it was at all possible he got any bigger. I'm a lot less optimistic now.

[Nev 1,085]

Adding small guys to the D only means he probably needs to be paired with one of the largest guys you have. He won't be able to push guys around in the D zone, so it's best to have a guy with a long reach, who can cover a lot of ice, next to him.

Chara - Krug is a good example in my mind.

It depends. Lidstrom - Rafalski was one of the best pairings we ever had. Lidstrom was bigger than most people realise, but he wasn't physical - although he did make whoever he was paired with look better.

As for Hicketts, he can skate (which Almquist couldn't) and he's quite physical and feisty by all accounts, despite his size. Reading around people who've watched him in Junior, the consensus is that if he were 2-3 inches taller he'd have gone in the 1st round.