Prospect Info: Owen Pickering, 21st Overall, 2022 NHL Draft

[chethejet]

Pickering is developing physically and is at least 3 years away from being his NHL body then. If he can add the 15 or 20 pounds of good weight and is by most accounts 6-5 and 220, He can be the number 1 D man that gives the Pens a nice lefts side. Now the right side future is not critical with Letang and Petry and Rutta signed for years. But I do draft RD if it makes sense from a selection ranking.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I don't expect Pickering to even challenge for a spot until well after the wheels fall off the big fellas and the window is irrefutably slammed shut. Probably like 2026 at the earliest.

 

[jmelm]

Can we please keep this thread about Pickering and not Despres?

 

[chethejet]

Pens will have who playing LD in 3 years? Smith, POJ likely gone. Petts or a free agent? Yes I do think another year in juniors and then a couple in WB by then he should be ending his growing gains and maturing into his NHL body. Pens will be rebuilding the team by then.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Can we please keep this thread about Pickering and not Despres?

His pace is
64 GP
0 G
96 A
96 P

 

[cookthebooks]

love the production but im worried about the -32

 

[The Old Master]

Can we please keep this thread about Pickering and not Despres?

Yes! no reason to reopen old wounds

 

[hockeykid87]

Named captain of the Swift Current Broncos

 

[BusinessGoose]

love the production but im worried about the -32

GP 80

G 16

A 36

PTS 52

PIM 38

-37

One of the Pens greatest dmen had similar stats.

Plus/Minus might mean Dick-all....

 

[hockeykid87]

love the production but im worried about the -32

He plays upwards of 30 minutes a night for a team that has a -112 goal differential since he joined the league. He's gonna eat his minuses. Not an indictment of his play.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

assist on PP last night.

His team blew it in last 10 seconds. Pickering made an aggressive move but didn’t make the stop and Bedard cashed in

 

[chethejet]

For the first time in a decade, we are talking about high draft picks. Hextall has a 3 year draft window to add higher end talent to the mix. If the Pens draft well and develop them, Pens fall off or expected fall off may not require a rebuild to the degree some believe, Keep in mind, Jake, Rust, Rakell, are under 30 or close to it. Smith on D, and Pickering do offer LD as well. Jarry is here probably 5 or 6 years starting next years contract. Add in Poulin, DOC, Hallander, Pusitin, a coulpe younger RW's who show some promise and now you have more of a good balanced team vs super stars and filling in the blanks. Plus Pens will have significant cap room to work with in 3 years.

 

[eXile3]

For the first time in a decade, we are talking about high draft picks. Hextall has a 3 year draft window to add higher end talent to the mix. If the Pens draft well and develop them, Pens fall off or expected fall off may not require a rebuild to the degree some believe, Keep in mind, Jake, Rust, Rakell, are under 30 or close to it. Smith on D, and Pickering do offer LD as well. Jarry is here probably 5 or 6 years starting next years contract. Add in Poulin, DOC, Hallander, Pusitin, a coulpe younger RW's who show some promise and now you have more of a good balanced team vs super stars and filling in the blanks. Plus Pens will have significant cap room to work with in 3 years.

It’s unlikely he’ll get high end talent with late 1st round picks. Not impossible but unlikely. Still need the young talent.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

I will say 2023 looks insane. Honestly think our last draft position (21) is like a 10th pick in a normal year.

No way of telling for sure until like 2033 though.

 

[Freeptop]

It’s unlikely he’ll get high end talent with late 1st round picks. Not impossible but unlikely. Still need the young talent.

No, but it can provide some solid support, so that they can hopefully hit on the picks for the couple years they do pick high, and get the high-end talent there.

Orpik and Armstrong, from just before the Pens started drafting high the last time come to mind. Even from later rounds when they were picking high, you get Christensen and Talbot. Even if they don't directly contribute to getting better, they can provide assets to trade for key acquisitions.

For that matter, Letang and Guentzel were both third round picks, so sometimes you _do_ get high end talent outside the top of the first.

Get enough solid players, and you don't need as many years drafting high to pull out of the rebuild. If the late 90's drafts had been better, the Pens wouldn't have needed so many years as a bad team. On the flip side, because they _did_ hit on players like Rust and Guentzel, and were able to turn Staal into Dumoulin, they didn't have to go through another rebuild between the '09 Cup and the '16 and '17 Cups.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Orpik and Talbot and Christensen and Armstrong are whatever. They weren't doing anything until the team landed two generational talents in Sid and Geno, and landed a #1 d-man in the making with Letang.

When it's time to rebuild, it's time to accept being really bad for a while is the best avenue. Don't turn a ~5 year rebuild into like a decade-long rebuild because you half ass your way through it, trying to cut as many corners as possible.

 

[chethejet]

Maybe there is a Crosby or Malkin down the road. But I think a better plan is to draft well, develop well and add FA's to the mix. Show me a team that tanked after years of success and that takes so long and not guarantee that star player is there anyway. But you can win and compete with a top roster.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Maybe there is a Crosby or Malkin down the road. But I think a better plan is to draft well, develop well and add FA's to the mix. Show me a team that tanked after years of success and that takes so long and not guarantee that star player is there anyway. But you can win and compete with a top roster.

The Penguins?

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Orpik and Talbot and Christensen and Armstrong are whatever. They weren't doing anything until the team landed two generational talents in Sid and Geno, and landed a #1 d-man in the making with Letang.

When it's time to rebuild, it's time to accept being really bad for a while is the best avenue. Don't turn a ~5 year rebuild into like a decade-long rebuild because you half ass your way through it, trying to cut as many corners as possible.

When's the last powerhouse team that didn't do some sort of "tear it down and draft multiple top 5 picks"? Of the recent Cup champs, the only team I can think of that didn't kickstart their Cup core with a 1st overall pick or so was St. Louis.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

St. Louis was a the weakest Cup winner in some time, imo. Binnington's nothing special, Pietrangelo and Schwartz are gone, ROR's magic wore off. They got the most out of their one run and settled back into middle of the pack territory.

I don't think you aim to emulate that sorta team, tbh. No, you're probably not gonna luck your way into a generational talent again (unless something happens like Sid gets injured and the team spirals into a lotto pick and lands Bedard). I'm not saying you don't want to also build a strong roster top to bottom. I'm saying you're probably not gonna be anything without those top tier players, and the way you get them is through great scouting, development, and sucking shit so you pick in the top-5.

 

[eXile3]

No, but it can provide some solid support, so that they can hopefully hit on the picks for the couple years they do pick high, and get the high-end talent there.

Orpik and Armstrong, from just before the Pens started drafting high the last time come to mind. Even from later rounds when they were picking high, you get Christensen and Talbot. Even if they don't directly contribute to getting better, they can provide assets to trade for key acquisitions.

For that matter, Letang and Guentzel were both third round picks, so sometimes you _do_ get high end talent outside the top of the first.

Get enough solid players, and you don't need as many years drafting high to pull out of the rebuild. If the late 90's drafts had been better, the Pens wouldn't have needed so many years as a bad team. On the flip side, because they _did_ hit on players like Rust and Guentzel, and were able to turn Staal into Dumoulin, they didn't have to go through another rebuild between the '09 Cup and the '16 and '17 Cups.

I agree. I’m just saying we can’t expect Hextall to draft top end players without top 5-10 picks.

If we do start keeping picks it will help as well. You can’t draft the Letangs, Jakes, Rusts, without those later picks. They don’t hit often but keeping them helps your odds.

 

[Freeptop]

I agree. I’m just saying we can’t expect Hextall to draft top end players without top 5-10 picks.

If we do start keeping picks it will help as well. You can’t draft the Letangs, Jakes, Rusts, without those later picks. They don’t hit often but keeping them helps your odds.

I think we're basically in agreement. I'm just saying we shouldn't dismiss a player like Pickering who isn't a high-end talent just because he won't be ready before the tear-down begins (and I'm on record on these boards as saying that a tear-down is inevitable).
Look at Buffalo. They got early draft picks, including back-to-back number 2 overall picks (Reinhart and Eichel), but they didn't do much to build around those high end picks for a long time, and it's now been 11 years outside the playoffs.

 

[chethejet]

I think the better approach is to draft what you can in whatever spot you have and develop and build as the primary emphasis. Keep in mind the draft is not about picking first. That year can be a Hischer or someone who simply is not a difference maker. But I agree the best way if possible is having a couple star or super star talents in your tank window. But really how many times has that happened? Crosby, McDavid, maybe Mathews. But you can get lucky with a Makar as a 4th pick or a later round like Letang, Rust or Jake. MY point is draft well, develop well and then add through FA and that to me is more feasable than hoping the ping pong ball goes your way.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Video doesn’t feel like new info, all video and analysis from last year but was posted yesterday.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I am cautiously optimistic about this pick, which means we'll be trading him for a washed up vet any day now.