Notes: Hicketts getting his second chance in the NHL

DETROIT-- The Red Wings are celebrating National Joe Day with a Joe of their own - defenseman Joe Hicketts.
The Wings called Hicketts up from the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins after their game in Montreal Monday night.

"Hicks will get lots of opportunity," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said before Tuesday night's game against Pittsburgh. "We don't want to throw him to the wolves but the purpose of this is to get some more games to see what he's all about. I'm not sure how many games we have left but he'll play more than just tonight and we'll get a little better feel going into the summer of where we think Joe stands."
Blashill confirmed that Hicketts will get time on the power play.
Since Mike Green will miss the rest of the season in order to have neck surgery on his cervical spine, Trevor Daley has taken his spot on the second power-play unit.
Now Hicketts will get his second chance after making his NHL debut on Jan. 22 in New Jersey.
Two of Hicketts' three goals with the Griffins have come on the power play this season.
He has three goals, seven assists and is minus-13 in 63 games this season after recording seven goals, 27 assists and plus-15 in 73 games last season.
"He's actually probably had more struggles," Blashill said. "I think last year the year went better for him than this year. That happens. Again, I think anytime you're looking for growth in people, if we think it's just going to go like this (inclines hand upward), we're kidding ourselves. There's always going to be valleys and there's going to be peaks. Sometimes when you're a defenseman, especially when you're an offensive defenseman, it has to do with how good your team is and the team last year was better than the team this year. They got a good team this year but they had a really good team last year so they got to play offense way more. When you get to play offense way more and you're an offensive defenseman, you get to accentuate your skills. Schultz on Pittsburgh is a good example of that, coming from Edmonton to Pitt. Now he's improved his game, but that's a big part of it.
"So with that said, I don't know with Joe Hicketts if you'll ever know if he's an NHL player until he plays some games in the NHL because he doesn't really match the model of an NHL defenseman in terms of size and skating and skill set. He doesn't look like an NHL player. Now some guys break the mold because of character and heart and swagger and I think he's a guy that can potentially break the mold of what a successful NHL defenseman is. We'll see. He'll get that opportunity for a number of games here and it gives us a better feel for where he's at."
The obvious comparison comes from the state of Michigan in Livonia native Torey Krug, a smaller offensive defenseman. Hicketts is listed at 5-foot-8, 180 pounds, while Krug is 5-foot-9, 186 pounds.
"He does have some similarities," Blashill said. "Torey at a similar age, a little bit younger, Torey improved his skating to the point now where I don't think anybody questions Torey's skating. I think Joe's going to have to go to work this summer and push his body to where nobody talks about Joe's skating next year. That's what Torey did. They've got very similar swagger and chip on their shoulders. Torey's a little bit bigger. What Torey does tons that has allowed him to be an elite defenseman in the NHL is he's excellent on the power play. He has excellent deception, he's just not on it, he runs it, he makes plays. For Joe to be a real impactful NHL defenseman, he'll have to be excellent on the power play, we'll see."
In 68 games with a very talented Boston Bruins team, Krug has 13 goals and 40 assists, with four of those goals and 19 points coming on the power play.
BLASHILL FOCUSED ON THE PRESENT: Before the game against the Penguins, Blashill was asked about a report from MLive.com that said that both he and general manager Ken Holland are returning next season.
"I don't know anything about the report, to be honest with you," Blashill said. "We got in at 2:30 in the morning last night and all I've done today is prepare to beat Pittsburgh. So to be honest with you, I don't know anything about the reports, I haven't seen them and really just focused on Pitt."
Blashill has one year after this left on his contract and Holland's contract is up at the end of this season.
"My focus all the time is today and then building this thing to get back to where the fan base wants to be," Blashill said. "I think the realization is that's not an easy thing, it takes a growth process of some young people in our organization, young people on our team right now and I think a lot of that's been in the works over the last couple years. I think there's also been a process of kind of changing how we play the game of hockey to suit more of the style of the group of young guys that we have coming up. So I think this has been a process for two years and I look forward to continuing."
While not making the playoffs for the second straight season and suffering through a 1-11-1 March is painful, Blashill said there are signs of progress.
"First of all, Dylan Larkin is a big piece of any kind of future that we have," Blashill said. "He went from a winger who was playing OK most of last year to really taking steps to becoming a really good two-way center. I think that's a huge piece. I think Tyler Bertuzzi's taken steps to being a real good top-six complementary-type winger. I think Anthony Mantha's taken steps to being more of an everyday worker, which then will result in more and more goals. So I think all those are positive things. But to be honest with you, other than that, my big focus right now is in two hours we got to play a heck of a hockey team."
Larkin leads the team in points with 54, in assists with 42 and leads all forwards in ice time with 19:48. Mantha leads the team in goals with 23. Bertuzzi worked his way from being on the fourth line to the top line with captain Henrik Zetterberg and Gustav Nyquist.