LW Owen Pederson, 6'3"205 (Winnipeg, WHL): Here's a guy I know next to nothing about. He was skipped over in last year's draft, but I read that he's got size and can really skate, so I decided to look into him. In 2019-20, he had 28g/22a/50pts/16PIMs in 61 games-his ppg was 7th amongst draft eligible WHLers, and his 28g was second on the team. This year, he has 13g/18a/31pts in 24 games. I watched a little film (what little I could find), and he is indeed, a good skater with good hands. Many say he wasn't drafted because he's just a passenger on a line with Peyton Krebs and Connor McClennon, and that he has a rather vanilla skillset, isn't physical, and isn't mean enough.
Others say that he's improved this year, that he has good hands and intelligence. It's a fact that he's trusted by the coaching staff on the PK and the PP-so he must have a little something. Another said that he's able to play against any defensive players that try to stop him, and that he always finds open ice to put himself in a position to score. One scouts notes about Pederson after he watched him play read,"Competed in the tough areas of the ice all game long. Excellent net front presence. Good and calm in the slot." That's really all I know about him.
There's players by the hundreds that get left out of the draft every year, and many of them put up great numbers, but they just will never be NHLers. This guy might be one of those kids (he wasn't drafted for a reason), or a team might take a chance on him in the later rounds of the draft...
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