Pittsburgh Penguins’ Owen Pickering Has High Hopes for His Career

The Pittsburgh Penguins selected defenseman Owen Pickering with the 21st overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. He is only 20 years old. At the time Pittsburgh drafted him, the Penguins defenseman prospects felt barren. Pickering could play a role with the Penguins in the future. He is one of the top prospects in the organization. For the last four years, Pickering has played for the Swift Current Broncos in the WHL and has served as the team captain for the past two seasons.

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Team Leadership and Stats

His leadership is something that will be admired inside the Pittsburgh Penguins locker room. There is a chance that he could make the team out of training camp this year. If Owen Pickering does not make the team out of training camp, he will most likely be with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL) to start the 2024-2025 season.

Pickering did play in eight games at the AHL level during the 2022-2023 season. He didn’t score a goal or record an assist, and his plus/minus rating was -9. In 59 games last season with the Swift Current Broncos in the WHL, he scored seven goals and recorded 39 assists, along with a plus/minus rating of 18.

In nine postseason games with Swift Current, Owen Pickering scored one goal and recorded six assists, along with a plus/minus rating of -2. He has improved in each season in the WHL. Some of the defensemen who will be on the 2024-2025 Pittsburgh Penguins roster are Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Ryan Graves, and Matt Grzelyck.

Some of the other names to watch for during training camp other than Owen Pickering will be Sebastian Aho, Marcus Pettersson, Ryan Shea, John Ludviq, and Jack St. Ivany. St. Ivany played well toward the end of last season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Other than Pettersson, it will be a battle for the sixth defenseman spot on the roster.

Jack St. Ivany should be the favorite to be the sixth defenseman on the roster for the 2024-2025 season. If Owen Pickering is not in the lineup for Pittsburgh to start the season, he needs to be developing with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL. It would not help his development if he was sitting in the press box.

Owen Pickering is going to get a lot of good looks in preseason games and training camp. The blueline was not strong last season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. A bigger issue than the blue line may be the goaltending with Tristan Jarry. Pickering going to the AHL and having Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov might benefit him in the long run anyway. Those two goalies are the future between the pipes for the Penguins.

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Article originally written by Glenn Kaplan