(courtesy AJHL)
The Flames are back at it in the third round, taking defenseman Brandon Hickey at 64 overall.
Hickey is 6’1″, 180 pounds and plays for the Spruce Grove Saints of the AJHL, where he had 22 points in 49 games this year. He’s committed to Boston University, so we now have a reason to continue caring about Hockey East conference games, and Ryan Lambert immediately becomes our #1 source of Hickey Watch updates.
Hickey’s got medals from the World U-17 Challenge (silver) and World Junior A tournament (bronze), so he’s got some talent, and since he’s going the college route, he’s got time to develop. Scouting reports peg him as a two-way defender with good skating and some offensive upside.
Hockey Prospects had him at 56 (juuust after Hunter Smith), while Future Considerations had him at 104.
Ummm I thought you said hockey prospects had Smith at 54?
Hmmm another surprise! Not even in major junior but College may do him welll
Looks like the Flames are trusting the college pipleine to reward them once again.
Central scouting had him at 63.
Listening to the Fan and Sam Constantino likes the picks so far. He’s a guy I respect for draft knowledge as well.
You are correct. Smith was 54, Hickey was 56.
Is he a LHS? I like this pick better than Smith, mostly because he can allegedly skate. Still hope for another D like Mayo or Siebenaler at 83 to help stock the cupboards.
OMG we just traded our pick for Brandon Bollig.
FML
Dafukkkk!?
With Bollig in the fold, say good bye to Westgarth.
One can only hope, although the upgrade is marginal
Over 50% Corsi with a 19% zone start. He has to be better than Westgarth.
Im starting to sense that there is a trade in the near future for a top pairing d-man or a couple UFA signings.
So we’re crapping the bed on day 2. Great! We pass on McKeown for a goalie, and it’s not even Demko. Smith at 54, fine. But we passed on Glover as well. And then we take an AJHL player at 64. WTF! Oh, and then we trade for yet another LW that scored a whopping 7 goals last year.
Totally agree, unfortunately.
5 picks in the top 90 was exciting and then it all went to hell.
Obviously the Flames brass knows more than we do, but MacDonald at 54 and Smith at 64 would have been much more palatable. There were some really interesting Dmen there at 34, including some Euros.
And Bollig is just more of the same. The Flames need to get bigger in their top six, not bottom six.
Why couldn’t we swing that James Neal deal? Top line big RW anyone?
Who in the heck is trashing this? ^^^ Off the board is off the board. Reeks of a whole day of Jankos. Do you trashers know better than the myriad lists out there? Bollig? Good night all.
This has got to be the exact opposite of how I wanted Day 2 to go. Ugh. Such a let down from the last couple drafts. Thanks Burke.
At this point the Flames should have attempted to trade their 2nd and 3rd round picks for another pick in the first.
Gonna be tough to be optimistic about these picks.
Basically the only worthwhile defenseman left in this draft is Joni Tuulola…
Watched Brandon Hickey this year in the AJHL and must say I really liked his game. He is the only really legitimate NHL prospect I have seen in the AJHL the past couple of years to be honest.
Great skater with very impressive four-way mobility he also performed extremely well at the NHL combine with a very athletic frame for someone his size/age. If offensive numbers improve I think we are getting another TJ Brodie type. He has a great shot, but didn’t use it enough in my opinion this year. I liked his passing and the AJHL isn’t as offensive game as the WHL so I think numbers could improve in NCAA. Boston University is in need of defenseman so he will get plenty of ice time to develop right away and they have some top players like Jack Eichel, so they should be competitive, playing on a winning very reputable NCAA club is a positive. I would have preferred a Jack Glover or Dysin Mayo at the range Hickey went, although when they played together at the U17s Hickey actually had slightly better numbers (1G, 2A) than Mayo. Apparently he is a big character kid and that fits the Flames requirements (something that I agree with as I think character kids understand what needs to be done to prepare for next level). We could have selected someone much worse than Brandon Hickey in my estimation.