I went with Hickey here, and quite easily in fact as I found choosing between Hickey and Kylington a more difficult task.
Hickey has 'complete defencemen' all over him. He is great defensively, he is great offensively, he is physical, he has good size, and he is Brodie-like in his skating. For me, he is on another tier over Anderrson. I really like Andersson as well, and feel he has top 4 potential too, but his skating will not allow him to do what Hickey does.
Once again, this has nothing to do with Andersson's conditioning. I actually fully expect that to be rectified once he turns pro, and the Flames can keep a closer eye on him and monitor him regularly.
Eichel voted Hickey as having the best one-timer on the team, and he does do it well. He gets shots to the net from anywhere and from any quality of pass. That takes a lot of skill. Don't be fooled by Hickey's 'regression' last season. That entire team imploded last year, remember? Some players left halfway through the season. Hickey himself was rumored to move to the Red Deer Rebels, but he chose to stick it out at BU.
If the Flames have a Giordano in their prospect pool, it is Hickey. He is that rare combination of.. everything! Just like Doughty. Kid does it all out there, and is even more physical. I really believe that something has to go wrong with his development for him not to make the Flames in the upcoming years - I think of him that highly. His floor is incredibly high for me - a competent bottom pairing. He will make the show. I think he could even go so far as to become a top pairing defencemen, but with Kylington in the pipeline and having the ceiling he does, and Brodie being as young as he is, I think Hickey will end up becoming a 2nd pairing guy. A real good 2nd pairing guy like Hamilton will be.
Out of all the current Flames defencemen, I view him as the absolute safest bet to make it and be an impact player. Kylington got my vote earlier because I think he will have an even bigger impact, yet he carries slightly more risk. Andersson I see as a solid middle-pairing upside guy who does everything well, but just doesn't have the skating of Kylington or Hickey, which will limit how effective he is playing a full 200ft like the two aforementioned guys can, though he will still be valuable back there.
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