NHL veteran Thomas Hickey had to make way for Noah Dobson at the start of the season. Dobson is the New York Islanders promising young defenseman and was too good to keep in juniors for another year.
Hickey was sent down to the AHL, but the thought was that he'd be up when the Islanders needed him. Unfortunately, when Adam Pelech went down with a season-ending injury Hickey had been out with an injury since the end of November.
But now it seems that Hickey could finally return to the Sound Tigers lineup, which could change how Lou Lamoriello approaches the trade deadline.