Elliotte Friedman Thinks Oilers Could Make Business Call on Calvin Pickard

Pickard, 33, is entering the final season of a two-year, $2 million contract and carries a $1 million cap hit. When paired with Stuart Skinner's $2.6 million cap hit, Edmonton’s crease costs a combined $3.6 million this season.

“Yeah. Hugely popular teammate,” Friedman said. “He’s at a million (per season). Now, obviously (available goalies) like (Michael) DiPietro and (Clay) Stevenson would be less, but also Pickard, when he’s played, he’s gotten W’s for the Oilers.

“I could see (the Oilers) looking at the salary for Ingram and saying no. But the way the players talk about Pickard, I would be curious to see if the Oilers would want to unseat him.”

Pickard has appeared in 175 regular-season games since he debuted in 2014-15 with the Colorado Avalanche. He joined the Oilers ahead of the 2023-24 season, backstopping them in 23 regular-season games the first year in town and playing 36 games last season.

Bukauskas doubted the organization would move on from Pickard at all, saying, “Oh yeah, I think the answer is no there for sure,” Bukauskas said.

Friedman stressed, however, that sentiment only goes so far.

“This is business, and if you believe in a guy like Stevenson or DiPietro, you have to look at it,” Friedman said. “But I was very intrigued by what those guys said about (Pickard). And the only reason I would even wonder (Edmonton replaces him) is, these guys make less than him. But it’s very, very clear he’s a hugely popular player in that room.”

During his two-year, 59-game stint with the Oilers, Pickard has posted a 34-17-2 record iwth a .903 save percentage and a 2.61 goals-against avarege.

Although he only appeared in three postseason games in 2024, Pickard went on to play in 10 games last playoffs with seven of them starting in net, including Games 3, 4 and 5 of the Stanley Cup Final.