CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Owen Pickering wakes up to a shot of olive oil each morning.
It’s a way for the 20-year-old defenseman to add size, working toward a potential debut for the Pittsburgh Penguins this season. Selected with the No. 21 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, Pickering (6-foot-5, 185 pounds) said his listed weight was inaccurate.
“I’m 200 pounds now, so I think I ended the season at 186 or 188, something,” Pickering said during Penguins development camp early last month. “It’s like six or seven meals a day. Making sure it’s good calories. When I wake up, I’ll have a shot of olive oil. I don’t know. There are certain tricks.”
To Pickering, it has worked; he feels stronger and more explosive without sacrificing speed.
“It’s just about maturing my game to the pro level,” he said. “It’s a step, obviously. I learned that a couple years ago. I was a lot skinnier when I played in the [American Hockey League] a couple years ago, a lot less mature. I feel like I’m more ready for pro hockey now.”
Pickering should soon get more pro experience. He is likely to start the season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL, where he played eight games without a point in 2022-23.
The St. Adolphe, Manitoba, native had 46 points (seven goals, 39 assists) in 59 games for Swift Current of the Western Hockey League last season.
Now, Pickering expects more. He wants to battle for an NHL spot in training camp, planning to participate for Pittsburgh after missing his first two camps because of injury.
“I kind of never dealt with that before in my life, previously,” Pickering said. “So pretty much the first two times I’ve been injured were for my first two NHL camps. That’s difficult to deal with. But I feel like, mentally, I’m ready.
“I’m ready for camp. I think it starts right now. It starts with making a good impression ... then when I come in, I’ll be ready in September.”
And the Penguins want him to take advantage of that opportunity.
“It’s been a couple tough training camps for ‘Pick,’ not being able to participate,” Pittsburgh assistant general manager Jason Spezza said. “So we’re excited to have him. We’re excited to see that he’s healthy. This is a big summer for him, turning pro. It’s a big jump from junior hockey. So I love that he has the enthusiasm, wants to come in and bang the door down and make the Penguins.”
Pickering will go at that door with a defensive focus, which he tried to solidify last season, along with offensive potential that could add to an emerging youth movement within the Penguins organization.
“There’s been a lot of great players here, and there are a lot of great players now,” Pickering said. “For us, I don’t think it’s really any different than anybody else in the League that’s a young guy. You want to make the team. You want to come in and take a spot. ... That’s been a goal since I was 5 years old, to play in the NHL. So that hasn’t changed.”
