Joe Hicketts has been called up and is expected to draw into the lineup for tomorrow’s game in New Jersey.

Hicketts, 21 and a native to British Columbia, has 8 points in 43 games this year in the AHL. Don’t look too hard into those numbers though; he’s been playing down in the lineup. He had 34 points (7-27-34) in 73 season games last year and 8 points (1-7-8) in 19 playoff games.

The Red Wings signed Hicketts as an undrafted free agent in 2014. Presumably, he went undrafted because he’s 5’8″. In 224 games for the Victoria Royals of the WHL, he had 173 points (32-141-173). He went on to play for Team Canada at the World Juniors in the 2015-16 tournament, as well as the 2016-17 tournament.

Hicketts impressed at training camp this season in all zones and it would have been nice to give him the 9 games allowed to players on entry-level contracts before forfeiting a year.

This is a very exciting move for the Red Wings and hopefully he impresses.