Calvin Pickard is heading into the new Edmonton Oilers season in style.
The veteran goaltender is entering training camp as the de facto backup goalie for the Oilers behind Stuart Skinner. The journeyman has seen a resurgence in Edmonton over the past two seasons, which all culminated with a Game 5 start in the Stanley Cup Final last season.
All this after he initially signed with the Oilers in 2022 to be an AHL goaltender. It’s been a remarkable ride for Pickard, and one that isn’t over yet. With the 2025-26 season less than a month away from starting, Pickard has opted to change up his look this year.
The 33-year-old showed up to the team’s informal captain skates on Monday rocking a brand-new set of goalie gear, and it looks sharp.
The new set (left) has noticeably more colour than his old set (right):
@EdmontonOilers/X | Perry Nelson/Imagn Images
It also looks like Pickard has opted for a darker navy blue than the Oilers’ brighter royal blue, which is featured on both the home and away jerseys. These colours would be more reminiscent of the neon orange Adidas-era jerseys that the team wore between 2017 and 2022.
Perhaps this is a sneak peek of the type of colours that will be featured on the Oilers’ upcoming third jersey, which was confirmed to exist by 880 CHED’s Brenden Escott on Tuesday morning.
Can confirm reports from earlier this year that the #Oilers will debut a new alternate uniform in 2025-26.
Not sure when we’ll see it in action, but I suspect fans will like what they see 👀
— Brenden Escott (@BrendenEscott) September 9, 2025
It’s also curious that Pickard has adopted so much colour into this particular set. Over the course of his NHL career, the New Brunswick native has typically stuck with mostly white gear with team colours serving as accents.
Maybe he was inspired by Skinner’s bold setup last season, which featured a completely blue and orange home set of goalie gear with absolutely no white to be seen. It’s expected that Stu will also have a new set of gear for the new season.
No matter the inspiration, Oilers fans won’t care what Pickard is wearing as long as it helps him keep pucks out of the Edmonton net.