number9 3,297 Report post Posted September 26, 2014 (edited) 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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kipwinger 8,440 Report post Posted September 26, 2014 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
number9 3,297 Report post Posted September 26, 2014 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WorkingOvertime 536 Report post Posted September 26, 2014 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ekmanc 586 Report post Posted September 26, 2014 (edited) 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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kipwinger 8,440 Report post Posted September 26, 2014 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nawein 324 Report post Posted September 26, 2014 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kipwinger 8,440 Report post Posted September 26, 2014 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nawein 324 Report post Posted September 26, 2014 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. 1 kipwinger reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nev 1,085 Report post Posted September 27, 2014 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites