Kyle Garcia 
The Ontario Reign are in the middle of a four-game road trip and one player received a gift from the team’s parent club.
We’ve signed defenseman Joe Hicketts to a two-year, two-way contract extension worth an AAV of $775,000!
Read More 📲 https://t.co/24RS7jK9Oa@Enterprise | @ontarioreign pic.twitter.com/sgJSGbVuax
— LA Kings (@LAKings) March 20, 2025
The captain isn’t going anywhere!!
The @LAKings have signed defenseman Joe Hicketts to a two-year, two-way contract extension!
📰 https://t.co/aW1MYc50yO pic.twitter.com/1jCWxtYf4f
— Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) March 20, 2025
Joe Hicketts, the captain of the Reign, received a two-year, two-way extension from the LA Kings. Hicketts is playing on his second one-year NHL contract with the organization and will be around for another two years. Although it’s an NHL contract, I expect Hicketts to be on the Reign as he has in the previous two years.
The move from the organization makes a ton of sense. The Reign have four players on the backend who are playing in their first professional season or first season in North America (Angus Booth, Jakub Dvořák, Luke Rowe, and Jack Millar), and Hicketts has been a mentor for there. Marco Sturm has praised Hicketts for his preparation and for being a great leader by example for those younger players aspiring to be in the NHL on and off the ice.
The Kings could also have three players turn pro these next two years. Kirill Kirsanov’s KHL contract expires after this season. The deadline for the Kings to sign Matthew Mania is June 1st, 2025. Otto Salin’s deadline to sign is June 1st, 2026.
It’s not a guarantee all three will be signed or play for the Reign in that time frame. However, if they do, having a leader like Hicketts in Ontario leading by example for them and the other young defensemen previously mentioned and captaining the team makes perfect sense.
Francesco Pinelli and Booth currently live with Hicketts.
Featured image credit: Jon Huerta/Ontario Reign