Edmonton Oilers Place Calvin Pickard On Waivers

The Edmonton Oilers announced today that netminder Calvin Pickard has been placed on waivers, presumably for the purposes of reassignment to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors.

Taking the move at face value, it appears Pickard has lost his place in the Oilers’ crease as a result of the emergence of Connor Ingram. Ingram got into his first game with the Oilers in late December, and since joining their NHL roster, has posted a .901 save percentage and 2.55 goals against average. Those numbers are a significant step up from what Pickard was offering the Oilers this season, as the veteran has just an .871 save percentage across 16 games. Among goalies with 10 or more games played this season, Pickard’s .871 save percentage ranks inside the bottom ten.

But while Pickard’s 2025-26 season has been a struggle, it’s still somewhat surprising to see him land on waivers. He was a reliable backup for the club in each of the last two seasons, even appearing in a total of 13 playoff contests across the team’s back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup Final. Pickard managed a 7-1 record in last season’s playoffs.

With the Oilers, like most teams, unlikely to have much of an appetite to carry three healthy goalies on their active roster, Pickard was the odd man out of Edmonton’s goalie picture. Mid-season trade acquisition Tristan Jarry has struggled mightily since arriving in Edmonton, but seeing as the Oilers have $5.375MM committed to Jarry for an additional two years after this one, it’s understandable that they’d want to give Jarry the priority to keep his NHL roster spot over Pickard.

As for whether Pickard might end up claimed, it seems entirely dependent on how much stock rival teams will place on his performance this season, weighed against his play from the prior two years. There do not appear to be an abundance of avenues for goaltending-needy teams to find upgrades. Because of how reliable Pickard was in 2023-24 and 2024-25, he likely stands a strong chance of being claimed.