RD Brenden Kichton (2011, 127th, Islanders; 2013, 190th, Winnipeg)

[spikelechien]

Brenden Kichton - D - L - 5'11'' 187 lb. - 18-Jun-92 - Spokane WHL - 42-13-38-51-23+43
OK, where is the love for this guy??? Statistics aren’t everything but when you are +43 which is +16 better than the next best guy on your team, Jared Cowen and you are QBing the PP and averaging better than a point a game you must be doing something right.

OK, so he has been bypassed once in the draft and wasn’t signed when he went to Detroit’s camp in the fall and he is undersized @ 5’11’’ & 187 lb. but he had a relatively late birth date for last year’s draft and did not get the power play time to shine until this year.

So for Chiefs’ fans or anyone else who has the opportunity to see him play a few times, what is the potential for this guy?

Click to read more...

 

[Ryan English]

i cant say i know anything about this guy, but if him & cowen work well together ottawa should drop a mid round pick on him

 

[Minister of Offence]

Didn't see this thread, I was going to make one last night.

I watched to see if his numbers slowed down with Cowen away for WJC...what happened was Spokane didn't skip a beat, continuing to march to the top of the WHL, and Kichton was around +13 in Cowen's time away.

His scoring pace has increased in the last month. Spokane was supposed to young and building forward and probably went into the season expecting to sell Cowen off at the deadline...although it's impossible to say Cowen hasn't made a big impact as he plays around 35 minutes a night...by the sounds of it Kichton's playing similar ice time and has shattered his numbers from last year making it seem like he's been hidden.

 

[Sore Loser]

Brendan Kichton

Brendan Kichton has always been a strong player for the Chiefs, he just never really had a chance to step up until this year. The team was relying on him heavily coming into the season, as he is one of the "veteran" defenders on the team now. Unfortunately for Brendan, he was always down on the depth chart behind guys like Jared Spurgeon, Stefan Ulmer, and to a lesser extent, Mike Reddington. The team had mentioned coming into the season that they expected him to step his offensive game up and be a leader in that department, but I don't think anyone was expecting him to play the way he has.

Though he is fairly undersized, one thing you will not see him do is back down from a physical challenge. He's not afraid to mix it up, and he doesn't seem to get overpowered by bigger players. His skating is average, but his hockey sense is excellent and he almost never seems to be caught out of position, even when joining the rush. He seems to get his shot through traffic more often than not, which is a big part of his point totals, and he makes very good first passes out of his own zone.

I think someone might take a shot on Brendan, whether it's in the mid-late rounds of the draft or as a free agent. He's a typical "late bloomer", in that it just took the Chiefs giving him the right opportunities before he really came out of his shell.

 

[Sore Loser]

Here you go:

http://www.thescoutingreport.org/prospect-spotlight-brendan-kichton/

 

[spikelechien]

Here you go:

http://www.thescoutingreport.org/prospect-spotlight-brendan-kichton/

Thanks for that!!!

Sounds like he is a bit like Mark Barberio who played for Moncton last year. Small, smooth, good positioning, good 5 on 5, PK and PP with the PP more of a set up man. Looks like Barberio will require the best part of 2 years in the AHL before being ready. Hopefully, Kichton can make similar progress or better.

 

[Sore Loser]

Thanks for that!!!

Sounds like he is a bit like Mark Barberio who played for Moncton last year. Small, smooth, good positioning, good 5 on 5, PK and PP with the PP more of a set up man. Looks like Barberio will require the best part of 2 years in the AHL before being ready. Hopefully, Kichton can make similar progress or better.

I agree, he could very well take a similar route. Kichton is a well developed player, and it seems as though the Chiefs player development is quickly becoming one of the tops in the CHL. They may not have the NHL talent of alot of other teams, but that might be due to nothing more than the size of the players the Chiefs seem to be producing every year.

Kudos to Chris Moulton, Tim Speltz, and the entire Chiefs scouting staff for finding guys like this year in, year out.

 

[stoff]

Brenden Kichton

Brenden Kichton plays for spokane chiefs and is second leading d man scorer in the whl, and is a 92 born player. Anyways i think he was draft eligible last year and am wondering if he will get drafted this year??? He seems to have offence. Anyways i played hockey with him a couple years ago so am kind of interested in his career and his potential draft ranking????

 

[Minister of Offence]

Well there is already a thread on him...but you'd have to use the search tool.

Anyways, overagers tend not to go higher than the 3rd round...you'd have to expect Kichton to get drafted and I think among the overagers he may be one of the most coveted. I think there's a pretty good chance he goes in the 3rd.

It's not just the points...it's the WHL leading +51. He was hidden behind two Spokane puck movers last season and now he's been thrust into duty with Cowen. When Cowen left for the WJC, I looked for Spokane and Kichton to trail off....but Kichton kept his scoring pace up and seperated from Cowen in plus/minus going around +12-13 while his partner was away.....and Spokane kept climbing the standings in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year with young players.

I came away impressed with his lateral skating ability...walks the line well. Calm presence on the blue line...gets shots to the net.

 

[Sore Loser]

Here is another thread dedicated to Kichton recently, which includes comments and an article I wrote on him.

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=870646

 

[UpsideHockey]

Brendan Kichton

THW's Brendan Ross on Brendan Kichton:
http://thehockeywriters.com/second-chances-did-the-red-wings-let-one-get-away/

Excerpt only:

"Despite Kichton’s lackluster 2009-10 season, Brenden Kichton received a training camp invite from the Detroit Red Wings but unfortunately broke his hand only to be returned to Spokane. The Red Wings’ have always had a good eye for talent but did not see enough of the young prospect to warrant giving him a contract. The biggest obstacle for Kichton has always been opportunity and time on ice and it was never more apparent than last year. Two seasons ago Spokane relied heavily on veteran defencemen Jared Spurgeon, Stefan Ulmer and Jared Cowen to carry the offensive output leaving Kichton only limited offensive minutes."

 

[GordieHoweHatTrick]

Anyone have anymore information on him? I think he was passed over in his draft year, Spokane had solid depth at D, but put up really good numbers being one of the "go-to guys" with Jared Cowen (correct me if I'm wrong).

Where do people expect him to get drafted this year?

 

[Lazarrr]

Wouldn't be surprised as a late 2nd Round Pick but most likely 3rd or 4th round.

 

[tfong]

Wow, how is this guy ranked only 90th?

 

[Lazarrr]

Wow, how is this guy ranked only 90th?

He's an overager

 

[boredmale]

Just curious if anybody seen him play how is he defensively? Looks like Offensively he tied Elliot in points for a defenseman(although he played 7 games less)

 

[Sore Loser]

Just curious if anybody seen him play how is he defensively? Looks like Offensively he tied Elliot in points for a defenseman(although he played 7 games less)

Size will definitely be a concern at the next level, as Kichton drops in at aboud 5'11", 190 pounds, he's similar in size to Niklas Kronwall.

He has very good lateral movement, he doesn't often get beat by being outskated, that's for sure. He's good at cutting down angles, and seems willing to block shots and do the necessary dirty work to make defensive plays. His plus 55 rating is impressive enough, but please take into consideration that he did that while playing 25-30 minutes a game, mostly against the opposition's top players.

He really came into his own this year, you could see that he was primed for big things, but I don't think anyone knew he was capable of posting the numbers he did last year. You mentioned Stefan Elliott, and I think that's a pretty fair comparison of his upside all around. He may even be a little bit better defensively than Elliott.

 

[hskates21*]

Size will definitely be a concern at the next level, as Kichton drops in at aboud 5'11", 190 pounds, he's similar in size to Niklas Kronwall.

He has very good lateral movement, he doesn't often get beat by being outskated, that's for sure. He's good at cutting down angles, and seems willing to block shots and do the necessary dirty work to make defensive plays. His plus 55 rating is impressive enough, but please take into consideration that he did that while playing 25-30 minutes a game, mostly against the opposition's top players.

He really came into his own this year, you could see that he was primed for big things, but I don't think anyone knew he was capable of posting the numbers he did last year. You mentioned Stefan Elliott, and I think that's a pretty fair comparison of his upside all around. He may even be a little bit better defensively than Elliott.

So why do you think he went so low in the draft?

 

[boredmale]

Size will definitely be a concern at the next level, as Kichton drops in at aboud 5'11", 190 pounds, he's similar in size to Niklas Kronwall.

He has very good lateral movement, he doesn't often get beat by being outskated, that's for sure. He's good at cutting down angles, and seems willing to block shots and do the necessary dirty work to make defensive plays. His plus 55 rating is impressive enough, but please take into consideration that he did that while playing 25-30 minutes a game, mostly against the opposition's top players.

Cool sort of sounds like he can be a Rafalski kind of player if everything works out.

He really came into his own this year, you could see that he was primed for big things, but I don't think anyone knew he was capable of posting the numbers he did last year. You mentioned Stefan Elliott, and I think that's a pretty fair comparison of his upside all around. He may even be a little bit better defensively than Elliott.

It should be interesting to see how his numbers are this year. Last year's Spokane team looked stacked offensively and they losing a few key players. As an Islanders fan I think the risk well worth a high 5th round pick

So why do you think he went so low in the draft?

My guess a combination of size and the fact he was passed over in 2010

 

[Sore Loser]

So why do you think he went so low in the draft?

Cool sort of sounds like he can be a Rafalski kind of player if everything works out.

It should be interesting to see how his numbers are this year. Last year's Spokane team looked stacked offensively and they losing a few key players. As an Islanders fan I think the risk well worth a high 5th round pick

My guess a combination of size and the fact he was passed over in 2010

The Chiefs weren't really all that "stacked," it was just a case of a bunch of guys who came together and were competitive. In actuality, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the team (and certainly started out looking that way), however they surprised many - including myself - by really dominating the league for 2/3 of the season. This really coincided with Kichton's return to the lineup from his pre-season injury, as well as the addition of Darren Kramer.

I think you're right, Kichton was likely passed over because of his size and age. He was a late bloomer, and after only having one season with this kind of success under his belt, I wasn't surprised at all to see him taken where he was.

Hopefully things work out for him with the Islanders. The last defenseman they picked from here (Jared Spurgeon) was never even signed, however he now seems to have created a niche for himself with the Wild.

 

[Jester9881]

He looked really good last night in the prospects game. Probably the second best defenseman behind Calvin de Haan.

 

[Debrincat93]

GCG, if you had to compare his style of play to an NHLer, who does his game or style more resemble.?

 

[Jester9881]

GCG, if you had to compare his style of play to an NHLer, who does his game or style more resemble.?

From my *very* limited viewing of him, he looks a lot like Dan Boyle.

 

[Sore Loser]

GCG, if you had to compare his style of play to an NHLer, who does his game or style more resemble.?

As mentioned above, Dan Boyle is a strong upside comparison; one that I've used a few times over the course of the season.

Hopefully, he can continue to develop and will get somewhere near that level.

 

[Debrincat93]

As mentioned above, Dan Boyle is a strong upside comparison; one that I've used a few times over the course of the season.

Hopefully, he can continue to develop and will get somewhere near that level.

Saying you hope a kid will be a top 10 offensive defenseman in the big show is a stretch, but the style comparison is intriguing. Hopefully he can develop into a solid NHLer.