VP Sports & Entertainment presents: WHL Champion, Tigers captain Pickford inks entry-level contract with Montreal

Medicine Hat Tigers captain Bryce Pickford has put pen to paper on a three-year, entry-level deal with the Montreal Canadiens, General Manager Kent Hughes announced Wednesday.

The contract will take effect starting in the 2026-27 season.

Pickford is on pace for one of the best offensive campaigns by a defenceman in recent WHL history.

He’s piled up 25 goals (including a WHL-best seven game-winning goals and a hat trick) and 19 assists for 44 points and a +37 rating in 31 games, leading the league in goals while ranking fourth in points and second in plus/minus.

Pickford is a two-time Ed Chynoweth Cup champion, having lifted the WHL’s top prize as a rookie with the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2023 and most recently with the Tigers in the spring of 2025.

The Chauvin, Alta. product tallied 24 points (13G-11A) in 18 games to capture the 2025 title, and scored in eight consecutive games to close out the Eastern Conference Championship and Championship Series.

Montreal selected the 6-foot-1, 186-pound rearguard with the 81st overall pick in the third round of the 2025 NHL Draft.

Originally drafted by Seattle with the 38th overall pick in the second round of the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft, Pickford has hit the 200-game milestone with 126 points (53G-73A) under his belt.

Medicine Hat (22-6-3-2) is on a 12-0-1-1 point streak to sit atop the Central Division and second in the Eastern Conference.

Pickford and the Tabbies are back in action on Saturday, December 27 when they visit the Lethbridge Hurricanes.