Penguins send Owen Pickering to minors, recall Boko Imama
Personnel change made before Saturday’s game
The Penguins made a roster move on Saturday before their game against the Seattle Kraken. Rookie defenseman Owen Pickering is going back down to the AHL and forward Boko Imama is coming up to the NHL.
Forward Boko Imama has been recalled from the @WBSPenguins (AHL) and defenseman Owen Pickering has been re-assigned to WBS. pic.twitter.com/7rXLbS06Sp
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 25, 2025
Coach Mike Sullivan talked about the move and reasoning behind it. He cited making the best decisions for Pickering’s overall growth and development to head back down. While Pickering had been playing well at one point, the team hasn’t been happy over the last “number of games” with the trajectory of his play.
Most recently Pickering has been teamed up with P.O. Joseph, playing on his off-hand on the third pair.
Sullivan mentioned the evolution and development process for a 20-year old player, and overall the Penguins are “ecstatic” with where he is at as a player. Importantly, Sullivan said he shared these comments with the player yesterday when the decision was made to send him back to Wilkes. Often communication can be lacking in pro hockey between management/coaching and the player but it sounds like Sullivan was able to share information in this instance.
HCMS on why the Penguins sent Owen Pickering to WBS (team announced the move earlier today.)
— Dan Potash (@DanPotashTV) January 25, 2025
Join us at 3pm as we get you ready for the Pens & Kraken on @SNPittsburgh pic.twitter.com/k66DE2P3gr
Pickering is the only player on the NHL team that could be sent down without using waivers. It was also said by Josh Yohe from The Athletic that between Bryan Rust’s day-to-day injury and general bumps and bruises the team needed to get a forward up for their west coast swing and drop having eight healthy defensemen as they’ve carried for most of the season.
Imama, 28, has played a handful of NHL games in each of the last three seasons, in 2023-24 with Ottawa coming off stints in 2022-23 and 2021-22 with Arizona and their AHL affiliates. Listed at 6’2” and 220 pounds, Imama is a fourth line physical forward who is no stranger to dropping the gloves. Imama has five points (3G+2A) in 24 games with AHL Wilkes-Barre this year, and 47 penalty minutes to go along with it. He has had 100+ PIMs in four of the last five previous AHL seasons, but “only” has 17 PIMs in his 15 career NHL games.
That Pittsburgh recalled Imama and not a younger prospect shows the mentality of what type of player they’re looking for from the minors, a fourth line grinder to put in tough minutes.
Today’s upcoming opponent, Seattle, doesn’t have anyone known as a tough guy or fighter, but Wednesday’s opponent over in Utah has had some of the most fighting majors in the NHL this season (15).