Garrett Pilon is the only rookie to have skated in a game with the Bears. Photo courtesy of Chocolate Hockey.
An easily overlookable fact about center Garrett Pilon is that he skated in a game with the Hershey Bears. Coming off a 65 point season with the Kamloops Blazers in 2016-17, the 5’11, 174 pound forward skated in Game 4 of the 2017 Atlantic Division Finals against the Providence Bruins. Hershey dropped that game by a score of 2-1 (that was the highly controversial game where Providence scored while Pheonix Copley was injured on the play) in Providence and eventually lost the series in seven games.
Pilon, who turned 20 years of age in April, comes off his best season in juniors where he split time between the Blazers and the Everett Silvertips, scoring a combined total of 34 goals and 46 assists for 80 points last season. With one relatively quiet pro game under his belt, Pilon looks for even more as he transitions into full-time work at the AHL level under new Hershey coach Spencer Carbery.
The video shows that Pilon relies a lot on his coordination and stick skills, and has an excellent scorer’s touch. In fact, the centerman has put up at least 30 assists in all three of his seasons in juniors, which is something that most highlight reels won’t contain. Pilon also had 22 games of playoff experience last season with Everett, who lost the WHL Finals to fellow Hershey prospect Beck Malenstyn and the Swift Current Broncos in six games. Despite this, Pilon ranked fifth amongst all players in scoring with 11 goals and 17 assists in the postseason. Another fun piece of trivia on the Silvertips is that their goaltender, Carter Hart, is likely to dress for either Lehigh Valley or former Hershey affiliate, the Philadelphia Flyers, this season.
Garrett is the son of noted NHL tough guy Rich Pilon, the bruising defenseman who was famous for dropping the mitts for the New York Islanders in the 1990s. Garrett, who is noted more for his scoring touch as opposed to his father, likely will not be a physical presence with the Chocolate and White.
Pilon is a player with a high skill ceiling and more than likely able to compete well in the AHL, considering he earned a spot for a game already with the Bears, and having a high caliber center is much harder to come by these days. His goal scoring ability seems comparable to Travis Boyd, who more often scored with a hard, accurate shot and figures to be an early candidate for the first power play unit. Pilon compliments the group of forwards well with his angle on scoring, and is a likely candidate for a top-six role off the bat with Hershey. Pairing him with complimentary players could easily look like the line of the last couple seasons of Chris Bourque, Boyd, and Mathias Bau, who is another good player to put on such a unit.
Much like the other rookies coming in this season, Pilon will have to prove that he is AHL-ready, and if not, it makes head coach Spencer Carbery’s job a lot easier to slot him in the bottom-six for special teams use. Pilon has been utilized in high pressure situations at center, capping off a hat trick on an empty net in one of his first games with Everett, so he too will have to learn to transition his game to the AHL level before earning his place in the NHL.
Newcomer Profiles:
Hershey Bears Hockey Nation 