From club to country is the sporting adage used for those good enough to be considered national team players.
Blue-liner Joe Hicketts is headed to the latter — today’s opening of the Canadian national junior team camp in Etobicoke, Ont. — more secure in his position in the former than with the Victoria Royals of the WHL.
Nineteen-year-old stars such as Hicketts are vulnerable in major-junior hockey if their teams are looking to build to the future. It happened to Royals star forward Kevin Sundher in a 2012 deal to Brandon that resulted in future Victoria captain Jordan Fransoo and which is still paying dividends for the Royals through L.A. Kings-drafted blue-liner Chaz Reddekopp. It happened last season to big-time NHL prospects Leon Draisaitl and Josh Morrissey in a Prince Albert Raiders to Kelowna Rockets blockbuster trade that got the Rockets to the 2015 Memorial Cup final, but which now has the Raiders sitting pretty as one of the top teams for the future in the WHL.
A similar deal for Hicketts to a contender could set the Royals up for the next three to four seasons, no small thing for a team looking to not only host, but win, the 2019 Memorial Cup. The trouble is the youthful Royals this season are surprisingly a contender themselves, taking some, but not all, of the air out of the Hicketts rumours that will likely swirl until the WHL trade deadline Jan 10.
“I have no intention of [trading Hicketts],” said Royals GM Cam Hope, bluntly.
“These guys [Royals] have put themselves in a position of us being buyers, not sellers. If we were struggling, it might have been different with the calls pouring in [from other teams]. But we’ve still had a few. I’m staying out of the prediction business because I don’t know what other teams are going to [offer].”
Any deal at minimum would likely require the other team’s 2016 first-round WHL bantam draft pick, a pair of promising second- or third-round bantam picks taken this year or in 2014, and a current, usable day-to-day WHL player no older than 18.
But how do you deal your captain and the player who has become the face of the franchise?“There’s always that uncertainty [as a 19-year-old]. I keep it out of my mind,” said Hicketts, during his going-away-to-Canada-camp media conference this week that predictably dwelled as much on club as country.
“I want to stay here. Victoria is like my second hometown now. I have a lot of support here.”
The odds are Hicketts, who heading into Wednesday night, led the WHL in defencemen scoring with 30 points, will turn pro in the Detroit Red Wings system next season.
Hicketts and Victoria coach Dave Lowry, also Canada head coach for the 2016 world juniors that begin Boxing Day in Helsinki, will each miss 13 Royals games, beginning Friday in Vancouver, because of their Canada duties.
Hicketts, who made the gold-medallist 2015 Canadian world junior team as a longshot, is one of only three returnees and now a national team leader.
“Us three [Brayden Point of the Mooose Jaw Warriors and Lawson Crouse of the Kingston Frontenacs are the other returnees] are going to have to make sure to tell the other players what it’s like to represent your country, and how hard it is to win, but also how rewarding it is,” said Hicketts.
“Unlike regular-season club play, you need a short-term mentality in national-team play because it all happens so quickly in international tournaments.”
The native of Kamloops is touted as a potential captain for Canada, or at least assistant captain.
“Last year, it was a whirlwind and I was not expecting it all. This year, I have more of a leadership role,” said Hicketts.
“But every one of these players wears a letter for their club teams, so it would be truly an honour to wear one for Canada.”
Meanwhile, Lowry’s Canadian crease decision became more complicated with Hockey Canada honouring second-round New Jersey Devils draft pick Mackenzie Blackwood’s OHL suspension. It means the Barrie Colts goaltender will miss the first two games of the world tournament. Netminder Samuel Montembeault of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the QMJHL has been brought into camp as a third goaltender to join Blackwood and Mason McDonald of the Charlottetown Islanders.
Camp runs to Monday. Lowry and his staff must whittle 32 players down to 22. All are stars on their WHL, OHL and QMJHL teams but most must accept lesser roles on a national side.
“Not everybody is going to get first-line minutes. It’s about adapting,” said Lowry, assistant coach of last year’s gold-medallist Canadian team.
“In the constricted time frame of international play, you don’t complicate things. You have systems that are easy to adapt to.”
Canada, which takes on the CIS all-stars Saturday and Sunday in Etobicoke, opens the world tournament against the U.S. on Dec. 26.
