MONTREAL - The Western Hockey League announced on Tuesday that Canadiens prospect Bryce Pickford has been named the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy winner as the league’s Defenseman of the Year for 2025-26.
Pickford put together a historic season with the Medicine Hat Tigers, shattering the franchise record for goals in a season by a blue-liner, while finishing the campaign tied for second in the WHL with 45 markers in just 55 games. That was only six shy of the league lead despite playing 17 fewer games than the leader, Cameron Schmidt.
A third-round pick (81st overall) in 2025, Pickford’s 45 tallies this year ranks fourth all-time among CHL defensemen for goals in a single season and is the most by any rearguard in a season since 1988.
The 20-year-old, who has totaled 165 points over 224 games in his junior career, signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Canadiens on December 24, 2025.
A two-time WHL champion (2023 and 2025), Pickford and the Tigers were eliminated from the WHL Playoffs on May 3, thus making him eligible to join the Laval Rocket or Canadiens for the remainder of the season.
