If Joe Hicketts Wants To Be A Red Wing, They Can’t Re-Sign Mike Green

The Red Wings organization are big believers in striking a delicate balance on their roster. There is a culture that was established in the days of Steve Yzerman and Nick Lidstrom. It’s a team-first culture that highlights pride, effort, and winning. To keep it alive over the years, the team relies on the presence of veterans that have been bred in their system and are familiar with the Red Wings Way.

Currently, the organization is in a state of flux. Their loyalty to these veterans and their desire to remain competitive have weighed their roster down with bottom-6 players past their prime. Signed to big, long-term contracts, this has created a bottleneck as NHL-ready players in Grand Rapids are banging on the door to the Red Wings locker room.

One of these players is Joe Hicketts. Everyone knows Hicketts’ story – the little defenseman with the big heart. At 5’8”, Hicketts went undrafted and signed with the Red Wings as a free agent after an impressive showing at their 2014 training camp. He’s been successful at every level, including his four seasons with the Victoria Royals in the WHL and his 2015 appearance on Team Canada at the World Junior Championship.

On last season’s Calder Cup winning team in Grand Rapids, his 0.47 points per game were second best among team defensemen. He added another eight points in the playoffs to lead all team defensemen in points per game. This year, Hicketts’ production has taken a step back as he’s only put up 10 points in 56 games. It’s the fifth best points per game among team defensemen.

Of course, Hicketts isn’t supposed to be an offensive prodigy on the blueline. He plays with speed, energy, and heart. There’s a certain spunk to his game that makes him a force on the ice. We saw it during the pre-season, where he was throwing his body around up and down the ice against full-time NHL players. We also saw it during his one game NHL call-up this year, where he was a plus-1 and blocked three shots through his fifteen minutes of ice time.

What’s happening with Hicketts right now is a classic case of Red Wings over-ripening. Prashanth Iyer, of The Athletic, explains it well in the following tweet thread:

The bottom line is this: Joe Hicketts is ready to play in the NHL. Any more time that he spends in the minors is detrimental to his development. Whether or not he becomes a regular on the Red Wings roster next season depends on whether or not the Wings are going to extend Mike Green. As it currently stands, the team’s regular blueline is as follows:

Ericsson – Daley

DeKeyser – Jensen

Kronwall – Green

Ouellet

If Green gets extended, which is very possible, then literally nothing changes on the Red Wings blueline. Maybe Ouellet is traded in the offseason and Hicketts is called up to be the seventh defenseman. Let’s be honest, though, if that will be the case, Hicketts will spend more time in the press box than on the ice. The only player he’d have a chance of ousting is Nick Jensen.

If Green is not extended, Hicketts has a much better shot at making the roster:

Ericsson – Daley

DeKeyser – Green

Kronwall – Hicketts

Ouellet

Yes, I believe Hicketts would get that last spot over Ouellet. The organization has already expressed their intention of trading Ouellet to give him a fresh start elsewhere. If that actually comes to fruition, then Witkowski becomes the seventh defenseman.

Which of the two above scenarios would you prefer to see next season? Personally, I’m in the camp that the team should walk away from Mike Green and give Hicketts his shot. By no means do I think Hicketts is a top-2 talent. I think his ceiling is as a bottom-4, maybe even bottom-2, defenseman. But with where he is in his development, now is the time to find out.

If not, then the team should look at moving Hicketts in a trade. Even if they get a low-round draft pick for him, like a fourth or a fifth, it would be worth it (though I believe Hicketts is worth at least a third at this point). Don’t forget that they signed him as a free agent, so they’d be turning nothing into something.

Of course, it sounds like the team is trying hard to sign Green in their neverending attempt to strike that delicate balance of veterans and young players. Only this balance won’t exist on their blueline. It will just be 6+ year veterans and Nick Jensen, the 28-year-old entering his third full season with the team.

I don’t see a winning recipe there. And I don’t see a future for Joe Hicketts.