He’s had himself a taste of big-league life, and now defenseman Joe Hicketts hopes to get the chance to feast on the show.

“It’s basically the same every year,” Hicketts told Detroitredwings.com. “Come in and earn a job.”

Taking the ice this time during Red Wings training camp in Traverse City, Mich., Hicketts can sense a different vibe.

“This year there is that chance,” said Hicketts, 22, who had three assists and a plus-five rating in a five-game NHL audition last season. “Last year, you want to make an impression, but realistically, I was prepared with the contract situation and everything else going on that it was probably be another year in (AHL) Grand Rapids.

“But this year they’ve got spots open, they’re talking about getting young with guys earning jobs and I’m here with that in mind. It’s to earn a job and prove I can play a full 82-game schedule in the National Hockey League.”

Someone who’s always been reluctant to commit to a youth movement, even Detroit GM Ken Holland appears to be acknowledging that’s the direction this team must now take.

“Training camp, from my perspective, we’re going to give lots of kids an opportunity,” Holland said. “On the back end, there’s an opportunity for sure for one young defenseman to make our team. If a second one can make it then we’ll assess what we’ll do with our roster.”

Hicketts is in the midst of the battle for those one or two spots along with Filip Hronek, Dennis Cholowski and Libor Sulak.

“As I look at our team we’re going to start to get young and younger over the course of the next 6-12 months,” Holland said. “We’re already headed there.

“We’re going to go into training camp and give a lot of these kids an opportunity. If they don’t make it on the opening day roster that doesn’t mean they won’t be here in a month or two.”

Camp Roster
A breakdown of the Red Wings training camp roster:
Goal: Jonathan Bernier; Justin Fazio*; Kaden Fulcher; Jimmy Howard; Pat Nagle+; Patrik Rybar; Harri Sateri.
Defense: Jake Chelios; Dennis Cholowski; Marcus Crawford+; Trevor Daley; Cole Fraser; Danny DeKeyser; Jonathan Ericsson; Mike Green; Trevor Hamilton+; Joe Hicketts; Filip Hronek; Nick Jensen; Brenden Kotyk*; Niklas Kronwall; Brian Lashoff; Dylan McIlrath; Jared McIsaac; Matt Register*; Alec Regula; Vili Saarijarvi; Mackenze Stewart*; Libor Sulak; Reilly Webb.
Center: Carter Camper+; Christoffer Ehn; Turner Elson+; Zach Gallant; Brady Gilmour; Luke Glendening; Nicolas Guay*; Dylan Larkin; Wade Megan; Michael Rasmussen; Dominic Turgeon; Joe Veleno; Trevor Yates+.
Left Wing: Justin Abdelkader; Andreas Athanasiou; Tyler Bertuzzi; Pavel Gogolev*; Maxim Golod*; Darren Helm; Axel Holmstrom; Jussi Jokinen*; Luke Kirwan*; Bryan Moore+; Frans Nielsen; David Pope; Matt Puempel; Chris Terry; Jordan Topping+;

Right Wing: Colin Campbell+; Matthew Ford+; Martin Frk; Anthony Mantha; Gustav Nyquist; Dylan Sadowy; Dominik Shine+; Givani Smith; Evgeny Svechnikov; Thomas Vanek; Luke Witkowski; Lane Zablocki; Filip Zadina.
+Signed by AHL Grand Rapids
*Camp invite

Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer

Join the Discussion: » 6 Comments » Post New Comment

» Five of Last Six First Rounders To Start Season In AHL

» Zadina, Veleno sent down

» Opening-Night Roster Not Set In Stone

» Back Where Pro Hockey Started

» Abdelkader Looking To Bounce Back