Hickey And Teubert Show Improvement At LA Kings Development Camp

Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty and HockeyTalk.biz continues his coverage of the Los Angeles Kings development camp held this weekend. Check out what he had to say about prospects Thomas Hickey and Colten Teubert.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — Last summer, Los Angeles Kings defenseman prospect Thomas Hickey was in Southern California for the team’s annual development camp for their young prospects. But for him, the camp was filled with off-ice training and exercises and a lot of watching from the bench.

Indeed, Hickey ended up spending last year’s development camp off the ice and on crutches due to off-season surgery to repair a torn ankle ligament. But one year later, he was on the ice at the Kings’ 2009 development camp and was a standout among the defensemen.

“It’s a big relief,” said Hickey, who was selected by the Kings in the first round (fourth overall) of the 2007 National Hockey League Entry Draft. “It was tough sitting on the sidelines last year. I still learned a lot because there’s a lot of stuff that goes on off the ice but this year [I’m] getting so much more out of it.”

“Being able to compete is the [most fun] because everyone’s been practicing all summer,” added Hickey. “I haven’t played since the season so I’m really enjoying myself.”

2008-09 was quite the whirlwind season for Hickey, who completed his final season as captain of the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League. He was also the captain of the gold-medal winning Canadian team at the IIHF World Junior (under-20) Championships and he played a short stint with the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League (Kings’ primary minor league affiliate) at the end of the season…

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