Brandon Hickey

October 2020 – Hickey did not receive a qualifying offer and therefore becomes an unrestricted free agent.  Jokke Nevalainen

August 2020 – Hickey played only 23 games during the 2019-2020 AHL season, far fewer than the 38 he played the previous season. He does not provide much in terms of offense, and this season he scored only two points. Outlet passes from him are not particularly common. He is not a particularly mobile skater and he finds himself caught flat-footed often. Opposing forecheckers sometimes beat him to the puck. Along the boards the opponent can gain body position, and he can be beaten by a speedy skater off the rush. However, he often maintains good enough body position to contain the opponent on most opportunities. He reads plays fairly well and in his limited use has played on the penalty kill for the Rochester Americans. He is 24 years old and has just completed the final year of his current contract. He is a pending RFA. Kevin Wong

November 2019 – Brandon Hickey is having a tough time cracking the lineup for the Rochester Americans, only playing in six games so far this season and failing to record a point. Given the amount of depth in Rochester at defense, Hickey will be a healthy scratch for most of the season. John Gilmour, Lawrence Pilut and Jacob Bryson are higher up on the left handed defensive pecking order. In terms of long-term fantasy value, Hickey does not have much value. If he can not find a way to get more ice time in the AHL, his chances of getting to the NHL level in the future are slim-to-none. Josh Tessler

June 2018- Almost a full year later after having his rights traded to the Coyotes, Hickey’s been dealt once again, this time to the Buffalo Sabres along with Mike Sislo for Hudson Facshing. The defenseman completed a solid senior year at BU last season, serving as the team captain he scored six goals and eight assists in 35 games. Hickey’s agent, Kevin Epp had come out in March saying that he didn’t expect to sign with the Coyotes. Hickey wanted a chance at a bigger role than he thought was available in Arizona. Keith Duggan

June 2017- Hickey’s rights have been traded to the Arizona Coyotes as part of a blockbuster deal that saw him, a conditional third-round pick (becomes a second-round pick if Flames make playoff’s) and Chad Johnson for goalie Mike Smith. Hickey joins a budding but not very deep defenseman prospect pool in Arizona while leaving Calagry’s that saw him buried behind blueliners like Oliver Kylington, Rasmus Anderson, Adam Fox and Brett Kulak. He plans on playing his senior year this coming season at BU, where Hickey has been named team captain. Keith Duggan

May 2017 – The fantasy value of Hickey is slipping, but his performance on the ice is still slowly growing. His shot totals have gone down since his rookie year but his leadership and pro qualities still improve. He has the ability to shut down top defenders and battle night in and night out. If you are still one of those believers that Hickey will turn into the next Brodie, you can let that go. He is still on a solid development path but with returning as a college senior and the prospects in Calgary’s system, there are questions where he fits. Overall, his fantasy value slightly decreased this year. – Joel Henderson

Nov 2016: Hickey has played with quite a few talented prospects in his time with Boston university. This season is no exception (Keller, Bellows, Fabbro, McAvoy, Greenway, etc). Do not judge him purely from stats alone. He still remains a strong skater and a fantastic two-way player. His fantasy value remains from his potential to still be a Top-4 NHL Dman one day. – Joel Henderson

Apr 2016 – Numbers never tell the full story. Brandon Hickey is a prospect who has value beyond his production numbers. However, the second half of his season wasn’t a shining example of what he can provide. It might have been a tale of two seasons for him before and after the World Juniors. His strong traits involve his skating and his ability to think the game at a high level. He will be heading back to the NCAA for his junior year. – Joel Henderson

Dec 2015 – Brandon Hickey has officially been named to Team Canada at the WJC in Finland. He beat out two very talented players and hats off to him and this is just another confirmation on how his game has elevated since being taken in the third round. He role will most likely be special teams PK and allowing his defense partner to be more active offensively since Hickey can cover ground with his smooth skating abilities. – Joel Henderson

Dec 2015 – After being one of 34 invites to Team Canada camp in the summer, he received an invite to WJC camp as well. He is the only college Canadian receiving an invitation and falls into a special category of players. It is common that coaches from WHL aren’t as familiar with those from the QMJHL and so forth. Hickey falls into a special category as every step he takes is passing others who coaches are more familiar with. He will be travelling over to Finland as one of nine defensemen and he will need to impress in order to stick around. Make no mistake, he has all the tools to grab a permanent spot and both his skating ability and hockey sense would be big additions to Team Canada. – Joel Henderson

Oct 2015 – Hickey started his season as a minus-three with two shots. – Joel Henderson

May 2015 – Hickey was the first of only two players drafted out of the AJHL in 2014, while playing for Spruce Grove. He began to really impress scouts while helping his team win the 2014 AJHL title; developing his offensive instincts and contributing 27 points in 62 games for the Saints. He joined the rebuilding Boston University team in order to play significant minutes right away and improve his overall two way game. In his rookie campaign he led the team in blocked shots (89), and contributed 17 points in 41 games. He is still a raw prospect who had a solid first NCAA season. Brandon Hickey had quite the significant role for a freshman and it suited him just fine. Hickey was scouted to be a raw prospect from a lesser league who scouts believed could develop into being a great skating, two-way, puck moving defenseman. His hockey sense happens to be one of his best attributes as well; using his smooth skating to his advantage in order to create great positioning for his effective stick work. Hickey is still working on his aggressiveness and toughness in the corners but his overall defensive abilities are quite promising. He will also be working on his release and accuracy, as his shot seems average. However, as his role with BU grows, so will his ability to put points on the board by his effective neutral zone passing, ability to join the rush, and getting shots on net from the point. Consider him a top tier skating prospect in the Flames system moving forward.  Joel Henderson