2022 NHL Draft Profile: Owen Pickering
In today's post, we'll take an in-depth look at Swift Current Broncos' defenseman, Owen Pickering. Pickering logged a lot of minutes this season, being the number one defenseman for Swift Current in the WHL and for Team Canada at the U18. Pickering can be considered a late bloomer, which makes him one of the most interesting prospects in this draft:
-Around 5'07" in his WHL draft year (bantam) to 6'04.25" today
-9th round pick (177 overall) in WHL draft to potential 1st rounder in the NHL draft, only three years later
VIDEO ROOM
OFFENSIVE GAME
BREAKOUT PUCK RETRIEVALS
Pickering's breakout retrievals need some refinement, but there's a lot to like.
With the recent growth spurt, Pickering can combine the breakout skills of a smaller defenseman with the ones needed for a bigger defenseman.
Under pressure, he uses deceptive agility skating (punch-turn, deceptive footwork, quick agility move) to evade/beat F1. When there's no space to use deceptive skating, Pickering uses his size well to gain body positioning and/or create an offensive contact before moving the puck with a five-foot pass.
Pickering loves to exit the zone in control by carrying the puck, thanks to his mobility and straight-line skating. I like many details in his puck carry:
Use of linear crossovers, fronting F1 to freeze him, gaining the inside dots for more options on each side.
With the combination of deceptive skating, body use, and ability to carry the puck, Pickering has many arsenals to breakout the puck. He'll need to work on the constancy and execution of how he uses these tools, plus some reads on small area retrievals.
NEUTRAL ZONE TRANSITION
Pickering features many of the same skills in neutral zone transition as on the breakout: Deceptive and agile skating, puck carrying abilities, and loves to jump in the play and join the rush without the puck.
Catching passes directly in his hip pocket (no stickhandle) and carrying with the puck on the side of his body (less in front of him) will help him improve his passing in transition.
OFFENSIVE ZONE PLAY
I like Pickering's OZP, my favorite part of his play with the puck.
Pickering uses his mobility & patience to move with the puck in the offensive, allowing him to create lanes and find better plays.
When releasing the puck, he shows good vision, often trying to find back-door stick options, and the shooting selection is good (when screen/players going to the net).
Pickering is also adept at activating off-the-puck.
DEFENSIVE PLAY
RUSH DEFENSE
There's a lot of upside in Pickering's rush defense. With the length, mobility, recovery skating, and competitiveness, Pickering makes a lot of stops and is tough to beat one-on-one.
Some details in his positioning, stickwork, and limiting backward skating crossovers will need refinement, but there's a strong foundation in his rush defense.
DEFENSIVE ZONE COVERAGE
Pickering is one of the best defensemen I've seen in this draft class in DZC.
I like his routes and approach when closing a forward in the corner. The little distance he keeps between him and the forward before closing him makes him efficient in these situations to not get beat by a little agility move (he lets the attacker make the first move, then close him hard with stick and body).
Pickering defensive zone decision-making and identification are good, he breaks plays with his length, good defensive skating, and competitiveness. When the puck is high, Pickering covers and boxes out his check well.
PROJECTION
Here’s his former assistant coach at Winnipeg Rink Hockey Academy U18, Mitch Giguère, on Pickering’s game: « At the U15 level, Pickering started to become a good PP QB. He’s a player that wants to learn and loves to be on the ice, always working hard and smiling. His progression from age 14 to now has been outstanding, his passing game has improved a lot and will continue to do so ». In his NHL draft season, Pickering is already a top-pairing WHL defenseman. Given the fact that he's still raw and there's still a lot of room to improve (which is normal given the age and growth spurt), there's high upsides in Pickering's game, in my opinion. With that size and athleticism, there's a lot of potentials for Pickering to develop into an all-around defenseman.
All clips powered by In Stat