The Edmonton Oilers Have a Goalie Problem…

You might. And there’s a Calvin Picker conversation that we’re going to have later on uh on the show today. Way too many untouched in front of the net from Shawn. Yes, that’s a part of it. Again, game recap coming up in a little bit. Um Steter Wavers. Yeah, we talked about that. Um feel like Pickard is the DR10 of 202526. Good guy, loved in the room, but the league is passed him by. And I mean Derek Ryan could stick around for a little bit because you play him 6 minutes a night. He plays on the penalty kill for 90 seconds, wins you a draw, and it’s largely inconsequential, and it kind of takes you six to eight weeks to look at like a whole bunch of results and be like, “Oh Derek Ryan is not helping us win hockey games right now.” So, you send them down. Calvin Pickard, it’s a lot more urgent than that because, and again, I’m not going to be someone who talks out of two sides of my mouth here. Heading into the year, I kind of said like, you kind of got to run it back with Calvin Pickard because he’s passed every test you’ve put in front of him. like league average backup goalending is kind of all we asked for as a collective. He gave you that. Every time you pointed to him in the Stanley Cup playoffs, he performed for you. He borderline saved your season in back-to-back playoff runs, whether it’s LA in 2025 or Vancouver in 2024. Like, he saved your season twice. You owed him, I think, some amount of loyalty. They love him in the room. I think if you would have dumped him for another scratch ticket and signed Ilia Samson Sonov to a PTO, I think that might have caused a rift. And I also said if you were going to do something like that, you absolutely had to be 100% right. Like Pickard was the safe play. It hasn’t worked. And now you’re at the point where I I think if anybody in that room from McDavid on down is going to sit here and be like, “Oh, we shouldn’t have sent down Picker.” You tell them results driven business. Like he kind of got a shrug at this point. And if you watch that game last night, whether you’re on the Oilers or a fan or whatever, I think you kind of go, that’s the last straw. At least it’s it’s got to be real close to the last straw. And can Stan Bowman make something work? I don’t know. I’ll go through every team’s goalie situation in in the next segment. And it’ll be our Spotify question for the weekend, like who could they realistically get? I I don’t know. Sean also says the Carolina threesome that that’s in their crease right now. that that might have to be the option. But back to Jeff in an F-150 who who commented like if this was Calvin Pickard’s first start of the year and it was bad or if Calvin Pickard had a 900 and played the way he did last night. I would agree with you and say let’s not be totally negative about this whole thing, but we have to be realistic about this situation. That could have been Calvin Pickert’s last game as an Oiler. He probably deserves to have it be his last game as an Oiler because the number like again if he was 870 or 860 and I know we we kicked off this week playing the clip from Woodley where he was like man his expected save percentage is like an 864 this year like it’s not good. The Oilers have played putrid in front of him and last night they didn’t play well in front of him. But I think they played well enough to win that hockey game. And I think it’s pretty clear to point to goalending and say it it’s the reason why last night. And if you guys watch this show, and I know the people who don’t like this show, who aren’t watching right now, who roast me on whatever social media website they roast me on, we’ll sit there and be like, “Yeah, he’s glazing the Oilers goalies again. How are you going to cover up this one?” Cuz I am someone who thinks maybe the goalending issue’s just been a tad overblown. They play they pay $3.6 million for their two goalies. I’m firmly in the camp of I stick up for the goalies more often than not. And I think it probably says something that I’m at the point I’m at right now. Back to the expected save percentage number. It sucks. The Oilers have played bad in front of Calvin Picker this year. Whley said it expected save percentage was 864 or whatever. Okay, but Calvin Picker’s at an 830. If his expected save percentage was a 900 and he was playing at an 870, we’d have a problem with that. If his expected save percentage was an 880 and he was playing it at 850, we’d have a problem with that. Again, he’s getting caved or they’re getting caved when he’s in net. Correct. Correct. He’s also been horrendous. And this is not NHL caliber goalending that we’re getting. And you couldn’t have said that a year ago. They were getting NHL caliber goalending from him a year ago. You could put him in net and go, he will give us a chance to win. he will stop somewhere from 88 to 90% of the shots he faces and for some reason the team in front of him always seem to play well. Well, the the what do they call the bloom is off the rose here when it comes to how the team plays in front of him. Whatever kind of smelling salts that it gave them seeing Calvin Pickard on the whiteboard and in the starters crease leading them out for warm-up whatever jump that gave them the last year and a half, it is 100% gone now. They play bad in front of him. Before you could always say they played better in front of him. It was a reason to bring Pickard back. They love the guy. They play hard for him. They aren’t playing well as well in front of him anymore. He’s playing worse than he ever has. He’s a 30ome year old journeyman goalender. You move on. You just have to move on. What could you do? I don’t know. Breaking Brad says could have easily been 11 and four. 11 to four with all the post he lucked out on. So I get and I know like Speck and a few other guys were throwing out the quote yesterday that old goalies like to use of like what? So, I’m supposed to stop the ones that weren’t going in now, too. And I get that goal posts are not shots on goal. But let’s use our brains and use some context here. He was getting beat, man. He was getting beat clean. This was not pass across the ice, one-time, bing, hit the post. He got a little lucky. This is like the one went through his legs and hit the post. That’s a goal 99% of the time. Like, I don’t know. Once again, we we love Calvin Pickard. It feels weird online cuz everybody before they say I think we might have to move on from pics feels like they have to say, “Well, I also love pick and we appreciate everything he did for us.” But we all have eyes as well. Somebody in the chat said, “Well, Stu has an 889, so that’s not acceptable as well.” And at least me personally, you’ve seen the flashes from Stu this season. We’ve seen him make the timely save the good one. And while the Oilers aren’t playing well in front of Calvin Pickard, which is a stark contrast from last season because we always discussed why the hell does it look like the Oilers try harder in front of Calvin Pickard. That’s kind of worn off. Pickard is 100% on the back half of his career. The eyes tell you what the eyes tell you. We love picks now. I don’t know what the hell you do because Connor Ingram I don’t think is going to be any better than Calvin Pickard. The fact we’re even talking Matt Tommpkins, a Sherwood Park native who I love. Shout out. See him at local all the time. I don’t know what you do here, but I don’t think you can keep banging your head against the wall with Calvin Pickard at this point. And I’m not saying that he won’t come back to the Oilers. Maybe at some point injuries happen. Yeah. But right now, I think uh something has to be done. D White says, “The good news is we can wave Pickard and not worry about losing him, so we can always bring him back if things change.” Sure. Um, Daki says quick for Pickard as a rental. No, Jonathan Quick, like I want an actual solution here. And Jonathan Quick’s not and also he’s not leaving New York. That that that’s not a good suggestion for the people talking about the uh the 889 save percentage. Ryan makes a good point. Hide the names. I prefer a goalie that’s an 889 over a goalie that gives me an 820. Yes. Also, I’ll just throw a few more numbers at you from Natural Statrick. 38 goalenders in the league this year have played a minimum of eight games. Out of those 38 goalenders, goals saved above expected per 60, Stuart Skinner is 21st. He is a positive.197. He has been a touch above average. That number is a hair behind Auter and a hair ahead of both Gibson and Vaselki. If you want to criticize Skinner and again, you can say this for Pickard. The Oilers haven’t been good enough in front of their goalies this season. That needs to be included in this conversation here. They’ve hung out their goalenders to dry. They give up way too many great A scoring chances. And Skinner’s kind of kept his head above water despite all of that. Everyone wants to talk about an 889. League average this year, I think, might be down to an 886 if you remove Pickard from that. And that’s a bad joke to make at this time. Um, but but league average this year is 896. If you factor in quality of chances, save percentage above expected this year amongst those 38 goalies. Stuart Skinner is 20th. His save percentage is 34.034, I should say. Better than expected this year. He Skinner’s done his job. He hasn’t been good, but he’s been passable and he’s done his job. And you pay him 2.6 million. I don’t really want to hear any bitching about Steuart Skinner because he hasn’t been a problem at least this year. And before with Pickard when people roasted him and said he’s Bowman’s got to upgrade him like I gave it some amount of time to like listen to the arguments, but I kind of sat there and went he’s doing his job. Like if he keeps doing his job, how hard can you really about him? This year that’s not the case. So results driven business. When the results aren’t there, I’ll change my tune on it. Last year, he was 0.0055 below his expected save percentage. Calvin Pickard 0.0055. Pay guy a million bucks. So, he was average as for a million dollars. That’s lovely. Out of the 76 goalies in the NHL last season who played at least eight games. I don’t know why I used eight games as the number, but he was 58th. Closer to the bottom than the top, but somewhere in that big mush of the middle. Skinner, by the way, was 0.00. 06. So, a little bit better than Pickard in terms of expected save percentage numbers. I don’t know, man. They need a new goalie. They need a new goalie. And I get everyone’s going to point to the Mackenzie Blackwood deal last year and be like, “That’s the one you missed out on.” And maybe this is just cuz he’s in the news. But like the and the assets they gave up for Blackwood were not it wasn’t crazy but at the time I was like for a goalie like Blackwood who couldn’t play a full season to save his life it felt like. Also he’s injured again right now if you missed he’s only played two games this year for the ABS. What’s up nation citizens? If you enjoyed today’s episode of Boilers Nation everyday make sure you hit the subscribe button here on our YouTube to not miss any of our content. We got you covered from interviews, insight, analysis, everything you need to stay up to date on everything around the team. Hit that subscribe button so you don’t miss a video.

Tyler dives into the ongoing issues in the Oilers’ crease, focusing on the struggles of Calvin Pickard and how the backup position has become a growing problem for Edmonton this season. With inconsistent performances and mounting pressure, the Oilers may soon be forced into making a goalie trade just to stabilize their tandem.

Tyler breaks down where things have gone wrong, why the team can’t afford to ignore the problem any longer, and what options could realistically be available if the Oilers decide they need outside help.

Is a trade the only solution left? Tyler gives his take.

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35 comments

  1. A lot harder on Pickard than skinner. Skinner gets pulled in 4 goals where pickard is half a pub table for the rest of the game. It’d be some interesting to see their stats if we didn’t quit as a team on skinner vs Colorado, then pickard had to try to save the day.

  2. Hahaha the kind of double standard you have for Pickard compared to Skinner 😂😂😂 crazy but they both suck. How many goalposts save Skinners a55 regularly?

  4. – first goal against – cause … Bouchard sits behind cbj player double screening Pickard

    2cnd period , Bouchard takes puck behind net and hands it to cbj forward , Picks saves bouchard mess

    – second goal against , bouchard allowed 2 cbj players to be in the zone while he goes across the blue line , but has to double back , and sits in front of picks with 2 cbj players waiting on a pass. bouch does nothing. they score. bouch allowed it period .

    – first goal for Bouchard scores

    – second goal for bouch passes to draisitl, to score

    fourth goal against – Nurse hands it to cbj for the goal

    fifth goal against , kulak walman out of position

  6. McDavid, Draisatli, Nurse and Bouchard are the problem they won’t bye into a defensive game until it is too late. And yes our goaltending is to streaky but our leaders have to lead by example not by their mouth. 😮

  7. Oilers defense is baby shit soft. Bouchard gets the best views of our goaltending problems, Nurse for a big tough d-man plays like me might damage butterfly wings.

  11. When you pay that cap for your goalie tandem you’re likely not getting a cup unless it’s some sensational rookie in net which how often does that happen? Nurse makes way too much it straps the oilers. He’s not a 9.25M D man, he’s likely a 6-7M if you’re being reasonable. I’m sure that’s subjective as well but point is, oilers need Skinner to be back up or at the very least to get an upgrade over Pickard. He’s been a good Oiler but being worried about hurt feelings is a bad recipe for success when they don’t perform to where you need it. The oilers also need an Olivier type of player, Frederic seems neutered, they never replaced Kane. Soft as butter hockey and nobody responding to the violence. They need another player or two that don’t mind causing havoc on the other team.

  19. Isn’t Pickard getting below a mil ?? Guy bailed them out countless times back
    To back seasons and getting F all for playing. Meanwhile Douchard the pylon making 10 mil. What Fn joke. He’s having a bit of a slump agreed hopefully he can rebound.

  21. I enjoy we are blaming the goaltending, why is this new defense coach insisting on our d men making bad pinches forcing 2-1s and 1-0s hes made some saves on those but they are tough to deal with

  22. What about the kid they just picked up and placed in minors. Why not Swap him and Pickard for the time being, and give the kid a shot. As far as I understand, the kid's done okay in the minors so far, so why not?

  26. Oilers fans are the denses in the league. Pickard was not the problem in the Blue Jackets game. Skinner and Pickard are not the problem. At least not until the team learns to play even mediocre defense. Columbus had 12 scoring chances to the Oilers 3. Skinner and Pickard routinely have two or three saves that are highlight reel but are forgotten or ignored for the goals given up because five Oilers skaters are standing around watching. Skinner and Pickard would look good playing for almost any other team in the league.

  29. Here is the major problem-lack of size upfront. They have trouble winning face offs. They also lack big defenseman who protect the blue line and clear the net . McDavid can take care of himself but he should still be protected as he’s the franchise. Yes Bouchard is a serious problem defensively but overall the team gave up or did not get defenseman who are tough physically and smart defensively. Winning face offs is key to teams controlling their offense and defense zones. This was a major reason why they lost in both Stanley Cup finals against Florida. They are small now. They need to get bigger.

  32. This guy is the problem. No, it’s that guy! It’s the D! No it’s the back checkers!
    It was an entertaining game. Would have been better if the Oilers won but that’s the way she goes. It’ll probably be until Spring before they totally get it together. They’ll be ready for the playoffs.

  33. This is BS, Pickard made plenty of big saves. The whole team needs to get it together. There’s no outstanding backup out there, let alone a number one. What made this game “the last straw?”

  35. Oilers goal dif is minus9 thru 19games….. which is better than 3 teams: Buff, StL, & Nash… so we are just above the bottom 10%. Issues seem to be Coach not creating accountability/discipline, teaching proper positioning, full effort, & still not creating line consistency/chemistry (a lot of constant indecision)- but mgt did extend him to 3yr contract as a reward. But the main concerns seem to be mgt decisions on personnel; added Ingram to goal, Bouch/Nurse/Walman contracts, Frederic $32m is very odd… & some concerns w the players added: Mangi (-15), & none of these have >2goals: Howard, Savoi(doing better), Philp, Tomasek, Lazar, Janmark, Kapanen, Henrique …. & various weak guys added to Bako (Jones, Brown, Cajula..) The bus decision was to max Bouch/Nurse pay…. but questionable scouting & development? Jackson/B.Nicholson/S.Bowman over paid & a lot of players overpd it seems including J.Campbell.

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