Heading into tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets the Penguins have called up Owen Pickering. Pickering is the former 21st overall pick in the 2022 entry draft. He has spent the majority of the last four seasons in the WHL playing for the Swift Current Broncos. He received a cup of coffee two years in WB/S once his junior season was over. He played in eight games. This is his first full-time year as a professional and he is 12 games in and already earning a promotion. Part of this is the fact the Penguins are struggling and aren’t exactly chasing standings points. The other part is he has played well enough to get the nod.

WBS head coach Kirk MacDonald has been very complimentary of LD Owen Pickering's play in the AHL this season despite his stat line (12GP, 1G-0A).

"He's been outstanding. Anybody who thinks otherwise is obviously not watching the games, for sure," MacDonald told @InsideAHLHockey.

— Tony Androckitis* (@TonyAndrock) November 15, 2024

Pittsburgh already has seven defenders on the big squad so it isn’t like they are missing bodies. This seems to indicate they are not satisfied with the play of Jack St. Ivany and Ryan Shea. Or if we want to talk about extreme situations is there a defenseman who is about to be on the move, dare I say Marcus Pettersson.

EDIT 12:54 PM

Kris Letang is out sick. He isn't with the team, thus creating an extra spot

The team hasn’t reached out to Pettersson about an extension to this point. We saw this play out in the Jake Guentzel saga last year. Pettersson has really grown on me over the years. I do think he is an exceptional modern defenseman. I also don’t think it makes a ton of sense to sign a mid-tier player to a long-term contract given where the Penguins are. A player like Pettersson being moved is a very real part of a team going through a rebuild, which the Penguins very much are doing.

In a perfect world Owen Pickering would be able to slide in and take Pettersson’s role within the next few years. I do not expect him to do so during the 2024-25 season. In fact, he might not even be playing tonight judging by the line rushes

#Pens lines:
Beauvillier-Crosby-Rakell
Bunting-Malkin-Rust
Puljujarvi-O'Connor-Poulin
Nieto-Acciari-Puustinen

Pettersson-Karlsson
Grzelcyk-St.Ivany
Graves-Shea
(Pickering-Ponomarev)

— Josh Getzoff (@JG_PxP) November 15, 2024

Lastly, Tristan Jarry was the first goaltender off the ice. He will be back in Pittsburgh’s net for the first time since Geno’s 500th goal game against the Buffalo Sabres where he was pulled. This is as good of a landing spot coming back as any. He played well in the AHL. Time to show it back in the NHL.

Thanks for reading

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