{"id":464687,"date":"2026-02-20T17:01:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T17:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/464687\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T17:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T17:01:26","slug":"calvin-pickards-agent-believes-goalie-will-eventually-be-back-with-oilers-the-hockey-writers-edmonton-oilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/464687\/","title":{"rendered":"Calvin Pickard’s Agent Believes Goalie Will Eventually Be Back With Oilers – The Hockey Writers – Edmonton Oilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veteran goaltender Calvin Pickard<\/a> made his return to the Bakersfield Condors on Tuesday, practicing with the American Hockey League (AHL) team<\/a> for the first time in more than two years. Pickard last donned a Condors jersey in November 2023, just before he was recalled by the Edmonton Oilers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Against the odds, Pickard became a fixture in Oil Country, establishing himself as the 1B to Stuart Skinner<\/a>\u2019s 1A, and played a key role in Edmonton\u2019s back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup Final each of the last two postseasons.<\/p>\n

But after the Oilers made a mid-season goaltending overhaul, Pickard was left as the odd man out in a crowded crease that now includes Connor Ingram and Tristan Jarry. Earlier this month, Edmonton placed Pickard on waivers<\/a> and then assigned him to Bakersfield<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before he cleared waivers, there were thoughts that Pickard\u2019s time with the Oilers might be over. Now there\u2019s reason to believe it won\u2019t be long before he\u2019s back in Edmonton.<\/p>\n

During a recent interview on Sports 1440 radio<\/a> in Edmonton, Pickard\u2019s agent, Ritch Winter, spoke about how the Oilers handled their goaltending situation. Not surprisingly, he expressed displeasure that his client was the one deemed expendable.<\/p>\n

However, there was one comment that stood out in particular, when Winter suggested that Oilers general manager Stan Bowman doesn\u2019t necessarily think that Ingram and Jarry are superior to Pickard. Winter said the opposite might be true, and that it\u2019s actually coach Kris Knoblauch who doubts Pickard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis situation is a bit unusual, because in the conversations that I\u2019ve had with Stan, he\u2019s not sure that Calvin is not No. 1,\u201d Winter said. \u201cHe just got into a situation where, right now, the coach has got flavours (to choose from), and flavours lemonade and strawberry and is not sure on grape.<\/p>\n

\"CalvinCalvin Pickard, Edmonton Oilers (Photo by Andy Devlin\/NHLI via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of difference between (Ingram, Jarry, and Pickard); their statistics are very similar,\u201d continued Winter.<\/p>\n

In games with the Oilers this season, Ingram is 6-4-1 with a 2.67 goals-against average (GAA) and .897 save percentage (SV%), Jarry is 6-4-1 with a 3.64 GAA and .870 SV%, and Pickard is 5-6-2 with a 3.68 GAA and .871 SV%. For the entirety of his Oilers tenure, Pickard is 39-23-4 with a 2.84 GAA and .986 SV% in the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many factors that come into winning,\u201d said Winter. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard it for two years, every time that Calvin\u2019s in the net, everybody says the guys play better, because they love him, because they want him to succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that shouldn\u2019t be the case, but it appears to be the case. He\u2019s a glue figure in the dressing room,\u201d continued Winter, who noted that after Pickard had cleared waivers, the goaltender was called \u201cone of the greatest teammates all of us have ever had\u201d by Oilers alternate captain Leon Draisaitl<\/a>. \u201cYou can\u2019t deny the value of that when you get down a couple of games in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pickard Has Delivered During the Postseason<\/p>\n

Indeed, it is during the Stanley Cup Playoffs that Pickard has shone brightest for the Oilers, going 8-2 with a 2.72 GAA and .896 SV%. He\u2019s essentially saved their postseason twice, stepping in for the struggling Skinner and getting massive wins with the Oilers trailing the Vancouver Canucks during the second round of the 2024 Playoffs and against the Los Angeles Kings during the first round of last year\u2019s postseason. All told, he\u2019s 4-0 with the Oilers when Edmonton is behind in a series.<\/p>\n

Related: Oilers Backup Goalie Pickard Emerges as Unlikely Hero of NHL Playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

Ingram and Jarry, meanwhile, have a combined two Stanley Cup Playoff wins between them: the former is 0-3, while the latter is 2-6 in their respective NHL playoff careers.<\/p>\n

Pickard Didn\u2019t Want to Go Elsewhere<\/p>\n

Winter acknowledged that the Oilers\u2019 decision to send Pickard to Bakersfield rather than Ingram worked out, because Pickard successfully cleared waivers. The agent said that he and Pickard had decided against proactively exploring if other teams were interested in claiming the goaltender.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, he has a great relationship with the people here, he\u2019s had success here, and everybody thinks there\u2019s not enough differentiation between the three (Oilers goalies) to suggest any other place is a good place to go,\u201d Winter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we talked about it, Calvin\u2019s pretty level-headed about it, and this is not something that\u2019s unfamiliar to him. It might break another guy, (but) it will just motivate him. And I just said to him, simply, when he went off for his break (during the Olympics) and I went off for mine, let\u2019s just do lunch during the playoffs, because he\u2019ll be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winter added, \u201cI think Stan knows this player. I think that they\u2019re not sure what to do in the blue paint, and Calvin\u2019s more likely to play here and have playoff success here than anywhere else. So he\u2019ll do what he has to do, he\u2019s done it in the past, and I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any doubt \u2026 because there\u2019s not enough evidence to suggest the other guys are better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pickard could potentially see his first game action this season with the Condors on Friday (Feb. 20) when Bakersfield hosts the Calgary Wranglers. The Oilers return to action after the Olympic break on Wednesday (Feb. 25) with a road game against the Anaheim Ducks.<\/p>\n

\"SUBSCRIBE<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran goaltender Calvin Pickard made his return to the Bakersfield Condors on Tuesday, practicing with the American Hockey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5125],"tags":[275,198,146,5300,5,4,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-464687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton-oilers","8":"tag-calvin-pickard","9":"tag-edmonton","10":"tag-edmonton-oilers","11":"tag-edmontonoilers","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-oilers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116104040039283713","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}