Joe Hicketts has been training for the upcoming season in his hometown of Kamloops, British Columbia. Hicketts spoke with Kamloops This Week’s Marty Hastings regarding his goal of making the Wings’ roster this season:
“I was only up for a day and a half or two days, but you’re flying to New Jersey, you’re not on the bus,” Hicketts said. “That was kind of the first taste that, you know what, I don’t really want to get sent back down.
“At the end of the season, I was up for another couple games and that was kind of the last little push that said, ‘I’m going to do everything in my power this off-season to work toward being there full-time.’”
Off-season training has been intense and included a trip to Montreal to work on skills and power skating.
Hicketts will be working out in Kamloops before heading to practise later this month with the Victoria Royals, with whom he starred in a four-season WHL career.
There were mistakes, but the 5-foot-8, 180-pound rearguard did not look out of place on an NHL blue line, with his first point coming in a 5-2 victory over Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in Detroit on March 27. He will head to the Motor City in September with no plans to leave.
“Last year, with salary cap and other contract restrictions, it was easy to send me down while they had their 23-man roster,” Hicketts said. “This year, it’s my chance to get in, I think.”
I’m glad to hear he’s been working hard this summer. I’m one of his biggest fans and I sure hope he has a great camp. I just feel like they already have the deck stacked against him. Hope he gets a real shot at making the opening night roster.