Penguins Prospects: Deep Questions, Changing Goals, Swagger for Owen Pickering (+)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — The Pittsburgh Penguins’ prospect pool doesn’t have a bigger player than Owen Pickering. Not only was he a big signal of a changing strategy when the team kept its first-round pick in 2022, but he has grown another couple of inches from draft day to today.

Pickering, 21, is now 6-foot-5 and, most importantly for the Penguins organization, he’s playing like it. In a rough-and-tumble Game 1 Wednesday night, Pickering performed well amidst a sea of struggling teammates.

Now, Friday is already a must-win or their remarkable season is over before it begins. And Pickering’s thoughts were the first flashes of that fire and confidence in the defenseman.

“I mean, our goal is to win a championship, and you’re not going to win without adversity. It’s a race to two games,” said Pickering. “This series is short and quick, and our backs are against the wall now, but we’ve been good at handling adversity all year. We believe in the guys in the room. We’re gonna be ready.”

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Thursday, PHN and Pickering had time after the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton practice at the Toyota Sports-Plex for a conversation. The great thing about Pickering is that no question is off limits, and he unassumingly delivers real answers.

Our conversation came a day after their Game 1 loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, a team which they dominated in the regular season. The players were plenty grouchy on Thursday. Their season now hangs in the balance because it’s a paltry best-of-three series.

As we chatted, Pickering towers over me (and I’m 6-feet tall). Even without skates on, he’s big, but he’s no longer the willowy kid who made his professional debut two years ago. He’s taller and quite a bit sturdier than he was, which translates into his play.

It’s been a personally successful year for Pickering, who battled injuries in previous years that caused him to miss a lot of valuable learning experiences like training camps and rookie camps. Fortunately for the organization, he’s shown to be a sponge for information.