Montreal Canadiens prospect Bryce Pickford is having an incredible season, and on Friday night, he registered his second hat trick of the season in the WHL with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
When the Montreal Canadiens drafted Brice Pickford with the 81st overall pick at the 2025, they might not have expected the 6-foot-1 right-shot defenseman to explode offensively as much as he has, but they certainly won’t complain.
The 19-year-old was named captain of the Medicine Hat Tigers ahead of the season, and he has since shown the team’s brass that it was the right decision on multiple occasions. On Friday night, the Tigers signed an 8-3 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds, and the blueliner gathered five points in the slaughter, including three goals for his second hat trick of the season.
With those five points, he now has a total of 58 points, giving him fourth place in the scoring race. He leads all defensemen in points, the second-highest-scoring blueliner being his partner on the Medicine Hat, Jonas Woo, with 52 points. What’s even more impressive, though, is the fact that he leads the league in goals with 31 in just 37 games while being a defenseman. Pickford’s teammate Woo is second amongst defensemen in goals with just 19 lamplighters.
Projected on a full 68-game season, it works out to 57 goals on the season, which wouldn’t set a new record for a blueliner in the minor circuit. Troy Mick had three seasons of 63, 60, and 49 goals, but he’s the only rearguard in league history to score more than 49 goals in a season, and his last season was 1989-90; it’s been a while. Cameron Schmidt, a forward, is second in the league with 29 goals.
Pickford’s performances have not gone unnoticed by the Canadiens, who signed him to an ELC contract just before Christmas. He will definitely be a player to watch at the next training camp, and the fact that he’s a right-shot defenseman makes him even more interesting.
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