There are two key sets of numbers when it comes to gauging Johnny Hicks as an NHL prospect right now. The first are 16-0-1, 1.19 and .957 — which are the win-loss record, goals against average, and save percentage, respectively. Those are the numbers that the 20-year-old netminder from Kamloops put up with the University of Denver Pioneers this past season en route to leading them to the NCAA title. Hicks was named the Frozen Four national tournament’s most valuable player and Denver’s male Athlete of the Year afterwards.
The second set of digits to know with Hicks are his height and weight — 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds. Hicks has a free-agent invite to the Edmonton Oilers development camp this off-season. It’s easy to wonder if he wasn’t a little bit bigger and a little bit broader whether he would have a little better path defined for him to pro hockey employment considering the season he’s coming off. It’s easy wonder if he wouldn’t already have a pro contract of some sort.
There were 13 goalies in the NHL this season standing 6-foot-5 or taller who played at least 20 games, including the Vancouver Canucks’ Nikita Tolopilo (6-foot-6, 229 pounds). There were 12 tipping the scales at 220 pounds or more. By contrast, Juuse Saros (5-foot-11, 180 pounds) of the Nashville Predators was the lone starter in the league under six-feet, and the Calgary Flames’ Dustin Wolf (6-feet, 166 pounds) was the only one weighing in at less than 170 pounds. That’s it. That’s the entire list of comparables frame-wise with NHL regulars when it comes to Hicks.
He has put on some weight this year, after being listed at 157 pounds on Denver’s roster page. He does still seem unfazed by all of this, though, saying that inquiries about his size have “turned into a ‘how’s your day’ kind of thing. It’s just a normal question I get all the time.” “I can’t control other people and what they think,” explained Hicks. “There are so many stigmas around hockey and size. It’s with all sports. I’m just trying to do my best to focus on what I can control and everything else will play out the way it’s supposed to play out.”
He has had a unique ride already to get to this point, and that’s undoubtedly played a role in his mindset. As a 17-year-old rookie in the BCHL in 2021-22, he was 0-16-3 with a 5.24 goals against average and a .894 save percentage with a Merritt Centennials team that finished a dismal 3-47-4. Hicks spent another season in Merritt before jumping to the Alberta junior league powerhouse Brooks Bandits in 2023-24. Brooks wound up leaving the Alberta circuit with four other provincial rivals midway through that season to join Merritt and its BCHL brethren. The BCHL had already split with Hockey Canada, becoming an independent league over frustrations with the national body, and the quintet of Alberta teams opted to follow suit.
Hicks started 2024-25 with Brooks, but with the NCAA opening up scholarship opportunities to players from Major Junior leagues he opted to move midseason to the WHL’s Victoria Royals. Hicks had verbally committed to the new Tennessee State program when he was in Merritt, but Tennessee State pushed their start date back to 2026-27, and Denver connected with him while he was with the Royals. Hicks was 10-4-0, with 2.69 goals against average and a .909 save percentage, in the regular season with Victoria.
Hicks began this season as Denver’s backup, playing behind fellow freshman Quentin Miller. Miller, 21, a Montreal Canadiens 2023 fourth rounder, suffered a lower body injury in January. Hicks took over the Denver net from there, and made sure that he didn’t give it up. He made 49 saves in a 4-3 double overtime win over Michigan in the national semifinal and then turned away 29 shots in a 2-1 victory over Wisconsin in the championship game. His save percentage on the season established an NCAA record, bettering Jimmy Howard’s old mark of .956 with Maine in 2003-04. Hicks just missed on the goals against average standard as well. Yaniv Perets came in at 1.17 in 2021-22 with Quinnipiac.
“During the season, I never look at the stats,” said Hicks, who’s a psychology major at Denver. “I tell everyone to not tell me about that stuff. If you are more worried about the stats you’re never going to actually get the results. When you’re truly focused on how you’re playing, the results will come on their own and you just need to trust that.” At this size in this era, he’s going to win over a little extra trust from an NHL team, be it the Oilers or someone else. It’s going to take some added time for him probably. He does seem, at least, to be in the right head space to try to do all that.
“The bigger picture is following my dream and getting to the NHL, but I feel like as long as I keep focusing on the present, on where my feet are at the moment, then everything is going to happen like it’s supposed to,” Hicks said. Miller entered the transfer portal at the end of the season, and he’s slated to play next fall for Western Michigan.
