NHL Draft Prospect Profile: Rem Pitlick

Get to Know Rem Pitlick

Date of Birth: 4/2/1997
Place of Birth: Plymouth, MN, USA
Ht: 5’9″ Wt: 194 lbs
Shoots: Left
Position: Center
Team (League): Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL)

Statistics

What Scouts See

Corey Pronman, ESPN:

Pitlick took gigantic strides this season, advancing from a bottom-six forward on his USHL team and going undrafted last season to being the league’s top goal scorer and point producer. He’s a pretty good skater who has a strong first step and top gear. Pitlick displays a solid north-south game as he barrels down with energy and attacks the goal, despite being an undersized forward. Stickhandling is solid for Pitlick, and he also has a very good shot, which helped him to clear the 40-goal mark this season. His size is an issue, as is his lack of top-end playmaking ability.

SBNation College Hockey:

Pitlick loves to play the game and is a tremendous worker. He’s never been the most physically gifted athlete, but he definitely gets the most out of what he has. He doesn’t back down if he takes a big hit. He plays really hard and has the passion to do what it takes to be successful.

Pitlick’s 46 goals and 89 points in the USHL is an impressive number. He was the best player in a very good junior league. Dominating the USHL hasn’t always been a solid predictor of NHL success, save players that have done it at an extremely young age, but it’s still a noteworthy accomplishment.

What BSN Avalanche sees

Let’s start with production. That’s awesome production for the USHL and while the shooting percentage was way too high (almost 27), it wasn’t a cheap 46 goals. He’s a bulldog of a player who makes his north-south, no-nonsense attitude work for him despite his size. Pitlick plays with the kind of raw passion and intensity that makes him impossible not to root for.

He may not be very good and at 5’9″ that’s kind of a problem. Actually at any height, it’s kind of a problem. He’s not a great skater and he’s not overly elusive. He’s not a great playmaker and despite having a good shot, there’s no way that 46 goals ever happens again without some serious puck luck.

Highlights

NHL Potential

This is a tough call. Pitlick could turn the lights on full bore, make me look dumb, and become a total smoke show in college and carry it over to the pros and be Johnny Gaudreau 2.0. The likelier scenario, however, is that he doesn’t quite hit that peak and if he breaks into the NHL, it’s either only briefly or he uses that bulldog attitude to carve out a career as a pesky grinder.

Expected Draft Position

Rankings put him in the fourth round conversation and I’d say that’s pretty fair. Fourth-fifth round is where I see him going unless a team with an abundance of picks takes the home run swing earlier.

How Prospect Fits in Avalanche Organization

To be honest, he doesn’t, really. He fills a need at forward but he’s not the size the Avs prefer and he doesn’t have the skill level to entice them to take a chance and he doesn’t play in the QMJHL.