How Habs prospect Bryce Pickford went from eight goals in three seasons to WHL scoring menace

Medicine Hat, Alta.- On May 9, 2024, the Medicine Hat Tigers traded a handful of picks for a young defenceman who had scored eight goals over parts of three seasons.

Two years later, Bryce Pickford is chasing the 50-goal mark and making history along the way.

“I say to our guys, if you can accept to be average, you’ll be average,” Tigers General Manager and Head Coach Willie Desjardins said. “If you can accept not playing in the NHL, you won’t play in the NHL. For him, I don’t think he can accept not playing. I think he’ll have to find a way.”

Pickford is in the midst of one of the most showstopping seasons in the WHL’s 60-year history.

The Tigers captain has netted a staggering 44 goals, including three hat tricks and a league-leading 11 game-winning strikes.

Not only has he shattered the Tigers’ franchise record for single-season goals by a defenceman (the previous mark of 32 was set by NHL journeyman Kris Russell back in 2006-07), Pickford is six goals shy of Lawrence Sacharuk’s WHL-record 50-goal campaign in 1971-72.

32 FOR 27!

After recording four goals in two games this weekend, @CanadiensMTL prospect Bryce Pickford has tied a WHL Internet Era record for most goals in a single season by a WHL defenceman!@tigershockey | #WHLQuickHits pic.twitter.com/sphCHPOMti

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) January 12, 2026

Pickford’s mark is also the most by any WHL blueliner since Greg Hawgood potted 48 for the Kamloops Blazers nearly 40 years ago.

All this, despite the Montreal Canadiens prospect missing almost a month of the season with an injury.

“I think I had a decent year last year, and I kind of wanted to break that- my goal was 50,” Pickford admitted. “So hopefully I can get there.”

With the milestone in sight and the NHL dream closer than ever, the 19-year-old is also reflecting on his unconventional road traveled to make it this far.

“I took two years off from hockey, completely- from games, at least,” Pickford added. “I worked out probably three, four hours in our shop. We have a gym on our farm. I think in those times it was… There was a lot of doubt, and I was kind of undercover and nobody really knew about me, but I just stuck to it and kept grinding.”

Despite sitting out two seasons in his early teens, the Seattle Thunderbirds selected Pickford with the 38th overall pick in the second round of the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft.

He managed to score in his second WHL game, but on a T-Birds squad that was stacked with NHL prospects, Pickford was largely toiling deep in the lineup as a shutdown man.

Still, he played his role to help Seattle hoist the Ed Chynoweth Cup in 2023.

Pickford pulled together two goals and 15 assists the following season, but when he was dealt to the Tigers over the offseason and the 2024 NHL Draft came and went, no team had taken a chance on him.

“That was a pretty hard day for me,” Picked recalled. “I was pretty upset, but I just kind of used it as fuel, and it’s just going to make the story that much better. That’s what I kept telling myself. Teams didn’t want me, so it just gave me something to play for the next year.”

On the family farm near Chauvin, Alberta, Pickford kicked his training into a new gear- bringing his brothers Austin, Reily, and Kane along for the ride.

“I shot 1000 pucks (a day) for a couple years outside the farmhouse with work gloves, because they’d rip holes in my hockey gloves,” Pickford grinned. “Lots of shooting with my family.

Me and my brothers and my dad (Jim) would even join us. His shot is brutal, but he was still out there ripping the pill.”

While Pickford says the training didn’t do much for his dad’s shot, the youngster saw immediate returns on a Tigers squad that grew into a Central Division powerhouse.

He netted a career-best 47 points (20G-27A), but the breakout truly came in the 2025 WHL Playoffs, where he set a modern WHL record for longest playoff goal streak by a defenceman with 10 strikes in eight straight games, beginning in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Championship.

Pickford led all skaters in the Championship Series against the Spokane Chiefs with six goals, clinching a second WHL title and eventually powering the Tigers to the 2025 Memorial Cup Final.

Weeks later, the Montreal Canadiens called his name 81st overall in the third round of the 2025 NHL Draft.

“I always dreamed this day would come,” Pickford said. “All the hard work I put in on the farm when nobody’s watching, it’s all starting to pay off now, so it feels pretty good.”

For Desjardins, making Pickford captain was a no-brainer.

Outgoing ‘C’ Oasiz Wiesblatt, who has graduated to the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, even warned the new-look Tabbies what they were in for when he joined the team via video call to announce Pickford as his successor.

“You guys might not like his workouts, but Bryce Pickford is going to be a great captain for you guys,” Wiesblatt quipped.

He wasn’t wrong.

Pickford leads his team in a daily morning workout called ‘Pickford Core’- 15 minutes of straight core comprised of planks, dead bugs, and other exercises.

He’s taking leadership classes through the Tigers and prides himself on reading various books to develop his own leadership style.

For his part, Desjardins is seeing Pickford’s habits rub off on his teammates.

“We usually start around 8:00 a.m., and Bryce usually is in at 7:00,” Desjardins said. “Originally, he would be in by himself, but now we probably have 15 guys coming in, and that’s just him. He comes in, he works out, and he brings guys into the fight with him.”

The Habs have sent development staff to a handful of Pickford’s games throughout the season, and what they’ve seen has been enough to offer the 6-foot-1, 186-pound rearguard a three-year, entry-level deal.

“We played the night before at home, and then we had Christmas break,” Pickford added “I came to the rink to grab my gear to bring it back so I could skate. I went inside, grabbed my gear, and I got a text from my agent. It was a whole bunch of numbers, and I was like, ‘Oh, what’s this’? I called him, and he said, ‘They want to sign you, or they made an offer’, and I went out to go hug my dad. It was a pretty special moment.”

WHL Championship ✅
Captaincy ✅
ELC ✅

VP Sports & Entertainment presents: @tigershockey captain Bryce Pickford is capping off a banner year by putting pen to paper on an entry-level contract with @CanadiensMTL

📝 | https://t.co/KPuaOmvxw9#WHLtoNHL | #VPSportsWealth pic.twitter.com/wmcnEGAJYT

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) December 24, 2025

With two games left on the regular-season schedule, the 48-10-5-3 Tigers are on the prowl for 50 wins and a race against the Prince Albert Raiders (50-10-5-1) for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

While Pickford won’t quite indulge in thoughts of a WHL Championship hat trick, he’s looking forward to leading a special team into the postseason- while reminding the group that when the stakes are high, their training and preparation will be the things that propel them to the next level.

The Tigers will close out the campaign with an away-and-home set against the Red Deer Rebels starting on Friday, March 20, at 7:00 p.m. MST.

Follow Pickford’s quest for glory by streaming all WHL games for free on Victory+.