Brandon Hickey signing watch. UPD: BU announces Hickey will captain team for 2017/18

[Beninho]

seems more and more likely he's gonna say #### you to the Flames.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Can't begrudge the guy for finishing out his academic commitments. He's a man of his word?

He'll sign in the off-season. Get the sense a deal is in place.

[DJones]

If he's not confident that he can't outplay Kulak and Wotherspoon then it may not be a giant loss.

Hopefully it's just logistics causing the delay and nothing about that.

[The Fonz]

Wait, did Hickey actually say that he's going back for his 4th year? Or are people reacting to the coaches comments?

Coach - "Talking at length on Wednesday in his Agganis Arena office, Quinn said that he fully expects junior defensemen John MacLeod (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Brandon Hickey (Calgary Flames) to be back, and the same goes for sophomore forwards Jordan Greenway (Minnesota Wild) and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson (Boston Bruins).

Meanwhile, he said that freshman defenseman Dante Fabbro (Nashville Predators) and freshman forward Kieffer Bellows (New York Islanders) will also be around for the 2017-18 campaign."

While he did say that he expects them to be back, what else could he say? Until they sign contracts with their teams, he has to expect that they return. He certainly couldn't speculate to the media that they'll be signing contracts, prior to them having deals done with their clubs.

He later hinted that while the players want to be back, the possibility is real that they may choose to go pro:

"“If anybody else leaves it’s because somebody really pushed hard and painted a scenario where it’s, ‘Wow, it’s going to be hard for me to pass that up.’ It’s not because guys want to leave.”


I feel like Hickey will be signed in the next week or two, otherwise Treliving never would have hinted at it.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

Wait, did Hickey actually say that he's going back for his 4th year? Or are people reacting to the coaches comments?
.

I don't believe any comment was made from Hickey or the Flames.

[868904]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

Wait, did Hickey actually say that he's going back for his 4th year? Or are people reacting to the coaches comments?

Coach - "[i]Talking at length on Wednesday in his Agganis Arena office, Quinn said that he fully expects junior defensemen John MacLeod (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Brandon Hickey (Calgary Flames) to be back, and the same goes for sophomore forwards Jordan Greenway (Minnesota Wild) and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson (Boston Bruins).

JFK also signed with the Bruins yesterday despite the quote above.

Imagine that, a guy named JFK playing for the Bruins.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Beninho

seems more and more likely he's gonna say #### you to the Flames.

Doesn't seem like that at all. It's all in your head bro

[Toonage]

Its kind of funny how this fear crops every year at this time. Gaudreau isn't going to sign, Jankowski isn't going to sign, etc.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

You think the Flames are the worst team in the NHL at giving opportunity to young defensemen? I don't know about that. Which young defenseman hasn't been given a good shot? Guys like Wotherspoon and Kulak played in the NHL and werent exactly blue chippers.

Name some more. Not many other defensemen come to mind back to Brodie. Maybe part of it is poor drafting, maybe poor development but if you are a young junior defenseman Calgary doesn't look like a place that's churning out young NHL defensemen.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Name some more. Not many other defensemen come to mind back to Brodie. Maybe part of it is poor drafting, maybe poor development but if you are a young junior defenseman Calgary doesn't look like a place that's churning out young NHL defensemen.

Kulak has played 30 NHL games. Spoon has played 30 NHL games. They're meh players. Matt Bartkowski is a better NHL defender than either of them. That's why he's played 232 NHL games.

The last guy we 'didn't give a chance to' who burned us was Stralman. Send your hate mail to Viking.

Here are the defensemen we've drafted post-Brodie:

Alexander Deilert - 2008, rd 7 198th - sucks
Tom Erixon - 2009 Rd 1 23rd - SUCKS
Joey Leach - 2010 Rd 3 73rd - wasn't even offered a contract, but did win a Conn Smythe his rookie season with Chicagoh wait no he didn't, he sucks too
John Ramage - 2010 Rd 4 103rd - sucks
Spoon - 2011 Rd 2 57th - sucks at hockey and Twitter
Sieloff - 2012 Rd 2 42nd - sucks at being a teammate
Kulak - 2012 Rd 5 105th - meh
Culkin - 2012 Rd 5 124th - a clone of meh
Kanzig - 2013 Rd 3 67th - sucks
Eric Roy (Remember him?) - 2013 Rd 5 135th - sucks
Rushan Rafikov - 2013 Rd 7 187th - sucks
John Gilmour - 2013 Rd 7 198th - sucks
Hickey - 2014 Rd 3 64th - jury's out
Ollas Mattsson - 2014 Rd 6 175th - jury's out
Rasmus - 2015 Rd 2 53rd - jury's out
Kylington - 2015 Rd 2 60th - jury's out
Fox - 2016 Rd 3 66th - jury's out
Falkovsky - 2016 Rd 7 186th - jury's out

Who on this list 'hasn't been given a chance'? Is Alex Deilert the most under the radar Norris candidate ever? Rafikov's still sorting out visa issues, which I guess means he doesn't have a passport? Ollas Mattsson was just signed to an ATO with the Heat, but maybe he should replace Engelland in Round 1?

Most of the defensemen taken in the later rounds just actually aren't that good. That's not a Flames thing, that's a hockey thing.

[Roof-Daddy]

If I was a young FA D-man confident in my abilities I'd be looking for an opportunity in Anaheim. That place is like a defenseman factory. It's ridiculous, and as a divisional rival also very irritating.

Smid
Gardiner
Schultz (although early ruined by the oilers)
Vatanen
Fowler
Manson
Lindholm
Theodore

Plus Montour, Megna Welenski and Pettersson all are looking like good prospects.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Name some more. Not many other defensemen come to mind back to Brodie. Maybe part of it is poor drafting, maybe poor development but if you are a young junior defenseman Calgary doesn't look like a place that's churning out young NHL defensemen.

I'd say it's a combo of poor drafting and development, but mostly drafting.

I'd be more worried if some of the guys getting cut loose were finding a decent foothold elsewhere, but they're not.

Guys like Negrin, Aulie, Leach, Erixon, Roy, Breen and Ramage haven't done squat after moving on from the Flames.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Kulak has played 30 NHL games. Spoon has played 30 NHL games. They're meh players. Matt Bartkowski is a better NHL defender than either of them. That's why he's played 232 NHL games.

The last guy we 'didn't give a chance to' who burned us was Stralman. Send your hate mail to Viking.

That's why I mentioned poor drafting and development in my post. The organization hasn't really produced many good defensemen over the past decade. Even if Tim Erixon signed with the Flames he probably isn't much better than he has been to date in the NHL. Either way I'm not sure it's an attractive place for young blue liners.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

If I was a young FA D-man confident in my abilities I'd be looking for an opportunity in Anaheim. That place is like a defenseman factory. It's ridiculous, and as a divisional rival also very irritating.

Smid
Gardiner
Schultz (although early ruined by the oilers)
Vatanen
Fowler
Manson
Lindholm
Theodore

Plus Montour, Megna Welenski and Pettersson all are looking like good prospects.

Seriously the Flames need to find a way to poach some of the Ducks scouts. I'm not sure how they keep finding all these defensemen but it's past the point of pure luck.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

If I was a young FA D-man confident in my abilities I'd be looking for an opportunity in Anaheim. That place is like a defenseman factory. It's ridiculous, and as a divisional rival also very irritating.

Smid
Gardiner
Schultz (although early ruined by the oilers)
Vatanen
Fowler
Manson
Lindholm
Theodore

Plus Montour, Megna Welenski and Pettersson all are looking like good prospects.

Smid - 9th overall
Gardiner - 17th overall
Vatanen - 106th overall
Fowler - 12th overall
Manson - 160th overall
Lindholm - 6th overall
Theodore -26th overall

Five of those guys are first round picks. The Ducks know D. Brad seems to have a pretty good handle on them as well.

Opportunity is not an excuse I'd use for Hickey not wanting to sign here - if anything, he may want to go home and play with the Something Specials

[JiriHrdina]

If the Flames indeed were guilty of not giving young dmen enough opportunity, would the best evidence of this not be seeing those D moving on to become productive NHLers elsewhere? Absent that I'm not sure it is something backed by much evidence.
I agree with those that maintain guys have been given opportunity and just haven't grabbed - likely because they simply aren't good enough. And part of that simply is they haven't drafted many dmen high.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

If the Flames indeed were guilty of not giving young dmen enough opportunity, would the best evidence of this not be seeing those D moving on to become productive NHLers elsewhere? Absent that I'm not sure it is something backed by much evidence.
I agree with those that maintain guys have been given opportunity and just haven't grabbed - likely because they simply aren't good enough. And part of that simply is they haven't drafted many dmen high.

I agree with this. Now I suppose, could a prospect look at the Flames and believe they don't know how to develop young defensemen? I suppose that's a possibility, which is different than not giving them a chance. But man, with the total lack of depth at the NHL level going into next year, I'd like to think a young confident dman sees nothing but opportunity.

[BurningSteel]

This is turning into a Ken King soon time frame.

[Bingo]

All I'd add to this drafting and developing discussion is timeframe. The "Flames" are thrown around alot, and people go back to guys like Keith Aulie, etc, but the clock really starts with Trevling drafts and the development that he has in place.

Lets see how Rasmus Andersson and Oliver Kylington develop, as they are both top two round picks and in the system.

Then you have a better grip on how they develop young talent.

That's why his RFA cut line was so harsh last summer, and likely will be this summer again. The clock started three years ago, but you can't everyone out in one summer.

[Husky]

Id be okay to use the trading model, use a D prospect as an add in to upgrade at wing.