His name may not be on the tip of the tongue, yet.
Overlooked thus far by NHL Central Scouting rankings, 17 year old defenseman Justin Kipkie has quietly gone about his business, but his play is starting to make some noise.
Kipkie plays on the top pairing with Kalem Parker who is ranked 113th among North American Skaters for the up coming NHL draft.
He longs heavy minutes, and plays like a senior rearguard. The Calgary native also has the coveted size, of 6’3 195 lb.
Head Coach and General Manager Dan Price believes that Kipkie, along with multiple Royals, could hear their names called in Nashville in June.
“There could be quite a few, Kipkie and Parker are two primary among those. Both are averaging high 20’s or low 30 per night as far as minutes…Especially with Laroque and Zemlak out.
“They play in every situation, 5 on 5, special teams and they do a great job defending and also creating offense.”
On top of locking things down on the back end, Kipkie is putting up the numbers too, with 21 points in 44 games this season, including 4 goals and 17 assists.
“I don’t like to look at it too much, but yeah, you see it. It’s definitely cool to hit that 20 point mark…I just want to keep building over the year and keep going.”
While being drafted by an NHL club is every players goal, Kipkie keeps a level head and instead focuses more on the task at hand – making the post season.
“That would be a really cool experience to have that (being drafted), but obviously it’s not on top of my mind right now. We need to win. The playoffs is an expectation for us now, and we’re going to keep pushing until we get there.”
Not being ranked by NHL Central Scouting can light a fire.
“Yeah, that’s definitely some fuel, but it’s something that I’m not too concerned about either – but it definitely fueled me for the next few games and it really pushed me to get better.”
– Marlon Martens
