West Second Round Notes: Pickard, Toews, Henrique, Stars
Looking to even up their series against the Vancouver Canucks tonight, the Edmonton Oilers will be making a major change in the crease. As mentioned in a pre-game update from Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the Oilers will be looking to goaltender Calvin Pickard to backstop their team to a victory tonight.
The decision has little mystery, as Edmonton has received a completely different version of Stuart Skinner in their Round Two matchup. Against the Los Angeles Kings, Skinner stopped 132 of 145 shots en route to a solid .910 save percentage after Round One. However, in the team’s first three games against Vancouver, Skinner has only stopped 46 of 58 total shots, leading to a dismal .793 SV%.
Stepping in for a little over 16 minutes of Game 3, Pickard will take the crease for the first playoff start of his career. Getting an opportunity as the backup after the Oilers waived Jack Campbell in early November, Pickard helped stabilize the goaltending situation in Edmonton over the course of the regular season. Over 23 games played, Pickard earned a 12-7-1 record, posting a .909 SV% and 2.45 goals against average in the process.
Other second-round notes:
- After missing the team’s Game 4 matchup against the Dallas Stars last night, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews will be traveling with the team to Texas, and the organization is hopeful that he can return to the lineup for Game 5 (X Link). Head coach of the Avalanche, Jared Bednar, reiterated to reporters that Toews missed Game 4 due to illness and that his absence was not related to the hit delivered by Stars’ forward Jamie Benn in the second period of Game 2. On the brink of elimination for the first time this postseason, Colorado’s chances of extending the series will increase if Toews is able to crack the lineup for Game 5.
- Moving back to Alberta, Oilers TV reporter Tony Brar confirmed that forward Adam Henrique will not be in Edmonton’s lineup for Game 4. In his first postseason appearance since the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Henrique had been a valuable defensive presence in the Oilers’ forward core through the first six games of the playoffs. Scoring only one goal and two points while averaging just over 15 minutes of ice time per night, Henrique has been extremely physical, averaging 3.7 hits a game against the Kings and the Canucks.
- While both were shaken up in the Stars’ Game 4 victory against the Avalanche last night, head coach Peter DeBoer did not offer any updates on the status of Roope Hintz or Chris Tanev (X Link). Hintz, who was only able to manage 6:35 of ice time, left the game during the first period and would not return. Tanev, on the other hand, managed over 21 minutes of ice time and left the game in the third period after getting shaken up by a hit. However, as in the case of most teams in the playoffs, both players could be ready to return for Game 5, and the update could be some gamesmanship on behalf of the Stars organization.
Waivers: 10/7/23
The final day of the preseason is today so pretty soon, teams will be finalizing their season-opening rosters which means there will be plenty of players on waivers this weekend. Here is today’s group, via TSN’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link).
Boston Bruins
F Jesper Boqvist
F Oskar Steen
D Jakub Zboril
Buffalo Sabres
F Brandon Biro
D Kale Clague
D Riley Stillman
Colorado Avalanche
D Jack Ahcan
D Brad Hunt
Columbus Blue Jackets
Edmonton Oilers
D Cam Dineen
D Philip Kemp
F Brad Malone
G Calvin Pickard
Los Angeles Kings
Nashville Predators
F Denis Gurianov
F Jachym Kondelik (unconditional for the purposes of release, per CapFriendly)
New Jersey Devils
F Shane Bowers
F Justin Dowling
F Tyce Thompson
F Maxwell Willman
Seattle Kraken
G Chris Driedger
D Cale Fleury
F John Hayden
As expected at this point in training camp, the majority of these players have some form of NHL experience.
Boston’s trio is certainly intriguing. Boqvist is coming off a 21-point season (10 goals, 11 assists) with the Devils but was non-tendered this summer due to arbitration eligibility, resulting in him signing a one-year deal for the minimum with the Bruins. Still just 24, a rebuilding team might be inclined to give him a shot. Steen played in 20 games with Boston back in 2021-22 and looked like a potential fourth-line center of the future at the time. He cleared waivers last season but teams looking for depth down in the middle could consider him. As for Zboril, he was limited to just 22 games last season but has 76 appearances at the top level under his belt. A first-round pick back in 2015 (13th overall), he has a bit of a higher cap hit ($1.1375MM) which could scare teams off but he could be a fit on the third pairing of some rebuilding squads.
Among the other forwards on the wire today, Gurianov stands out. He put up 20 goals with Dallas back in 2019-20, following that up with 30 points in just 55 games one year later. However, he has struggled considerably since then and notched just seven goals between Dallas and Montreal last season. Still, with an $800K price tag, he’s a player who could be claimed. Madden was viewed as a quality prospect not long ago but has yet to see NHL action. However, he’s only 23 and is signed for the minimum this season which makes him a possible claim candidate as well.
On the back end, Fleury was up with Seattle all of last season but was limited to just a dozen games. He impressed in 2021-22 while playing with AHL Charlotte and as a right-shot defender – the side that many teams covet – he could garner some consideration. Stillman was acquired from Vancouver last season and played in 50 games between the two teams, albeit in a number six role. While he has a fair bit of experience (158 games in total), his contract could hurt his chances of being claimed as a $1.35MM price is more than a lot of teams can afford.
In goal, Driedger is the headliner here but at $3.5MM, there’s very little chance he’ll be picked up. He missed most of last season due to an injury sustained at the 2022 Worlds. Pickard didn’t see any NHL action last season for the first time since 2013-14. The 31-year-old put up a 2.70 GAA with a .912 SV% in Bakersfield last season and has 116 NHL games under his belt. Notably, he’s signed for the minimum which gives him a small chance of being picked up at least.
These players will be on waivers until 1 PM CT on Sunday. Meanwhile, Sunday will be the last day for teams to place players on waivers and have them clear prior to Monday’s season-opening roster submission so expect plenty of waiver activity tomorrow.
More to follow.
Edmonton Oilers Have Recalled Goaltender Calvin Pickard
In a curious move the Edmonton Oilers recalled veteran goaltender Calvin Pickard from the Bakersfield Condors. The move was announced this morning by the Oilers; however, the team hasn’t commented on any reason for it. Stuart Skinner took most of the starts for Edmonton during the regular season and playoffs, however he was pulled in game four after allowing three goals on 11 shots. Jack Campbell came in to replace Skinner and performed admirably as he backstopped the Oilers to a comeback win to pull even with the Los Angeles Kings at two games each.
Pickard didn’t see any game action this season with Edmonton and has only played in 36 NHL games in the past six seasons. The former second round pick was once viewed as the goaltender of the future for the Colorado Avalanche after posting a save percentage over .920 in his first two NHL seasons. However, since those initial seasons Pickard hasn’t posted a single season with a save percentage above .900 and has bounced back and forth between the AHL and the NHL.
It will be interesting to see what, if anything, is said by the Oilers about Pickard’s recall. The Oilers did practice this morning, with Oilers radio analyst Bob Stauffer observing that Stuart Skinner was in the starters net and TSN has reported that Skinner will indeed start game five. The debate amongst Edmonton fans since game four has been about who to start in net for game five after Campbell stood on his head stopping 27 of 28 shots. Campbell was expected to be the starter for the Oilers coming into this season but lost the net as he struggled with a .888 save percentage in just 36 games. Skinner jumped on the opportunity to start and posted a .913 save percentage in 50 games.
Edmonton Oilers Reassign Calvin Pickard
Jan 15: With Skinner now back with the team, the Oilers have returned Pickard to the Bakersfield Condors, per the team. As expected, he didn’t see any game action.
Jan 10: The Edmonton Oilers will be without Stuart Skinner for a couple of days, as Mark Spector of Sportsnet reports that he is flying home to be with his expecting wife. In his place, the team has recalled Calvin Pickard from the minor leagues under emergency conditions. Given the team was already at the maximum of 23 players, they will likely move Skinner to non-roster status while he is away.
Pickard, 30, is the definition of a journeyman goaltender. Starting his career with the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL, he then played for the Colorado Avalanche, San Antonio Rampage, Toronto Marlies, Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers, Arizona Coyotes, Tucson Roadrunners, Grand Rapids Griffins, Detroit Red Wings, and Vienna in the Austrian league before joining the Bakersfield Condors this season.
The veteran netminder has posted a .909 save percentage in 10 appearances for Bakersfield this season, and will likely just serve as backup while Skinner is away.
That means Jack Campbell will get the start, as he continues to try and get his season back on track. After signing a five-year, $25MM contract in the offseason, Campbell (who turned 31 yesterday) has an .877 save percentage in 19 appearances, allowing at least three goals in 13 of them. The Oilers, who are struggling to even stay above .500 these days, will face the Anaheim Ducks tomorrow before back-to-back games against the San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights starting on Friday.
Waivers: 10/06/22
Another day, another set of players on waivers as the regular season approaches. Everyone from yesterday cleared, while today’s group looks like this:
Boston Bruins
Vinni Lettieri
Joona Koppanen
Dan Renouf
Keith Kinkaid
Colorado Avalanche
Edmonton Oilers
Calvin Pickard
Slater Koekkoek
Los Angeles Kings
New York Rangers
Edmonton Oilers Update Smith Status; Sign Pickard
The Edmonton Oilers have their starting goaltender in Jack Campbell, and now they have a third-string option as well. The Oilers are bringing in Calvin Pickard to play behind Campbell and Stuart Skinner on a two-year, two-way contract. The deal carries an average annual value of $762.5K
That leaves Mike Smith on the outside, and general manager Ken Holland updated the veteran’s status today. “I’m not expecting Smitty to play this year,” Holland told reporters including Jason Gregor of TSN, explaining why they needed someone like Pickard to come into the organization.
Smith, 40, is expected to move to long-term injured reserve as he deals with “several” chronic injuries. That will give the Oilers some additional cap flexibility, and potentially end Smith’s career after 670 regular season appearances. His overall record with Edmonton during that time was 56-27-10 with a .913 save percentage, helping the club all the way to the Western Conference Finals this year.
If it is the end, he finishes 36th all-time in games played by a goaltender, 40th all-time in wins. Not a Hall of Fame candidate, but a good goaltender for a very long time in the league.
Pickard, meanwhile, spent most of this season in the minor leagues, posting a .918 with the Grand Rapids Griffins. The 30-year-old has bounced around the league for the last decade, appearing in 116 NHL contests.
While he represents a solid minor league option, if he’s playing regularly for the Oilers this season they will be in trouble.
Red Wings Notes: Gagner, Greiss, Hellberg, Pickard
Red Wings center Sam Gagner is set to reach unrestricted free agency this summer but the 32-year-old told Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press that he’s hoping to re-sign with Detroit. Gagner has had a decent season with 12 goals and 16 assists in 73 contests despite averaging just over 13 minutes a game of playing time. That’s a pretty good return on a one-year, $850K contract, one that GM Steve Yzerman has given Gagner in each of the last two seasons. If the veteran – who is just 41 games shy of reaching the 1,000 mark for his career – is willing to make it three years in a row at that price tag, keeping him around would certainly make some sense for Detroit as a capable depth veteran.
More from Detroit:
- James suggests in a separate column that the Red Wings aren’t expected to offer Thomas Greiss a contract for next season. The 36-year-old netminder was brought in to be a stable platoon option between the pipes and while he did exactly that last year, that hasn’t been the case in 2021-22 as he has a SV% of just .892 along with a 3.56 GAA in 28 appearances. Greiss’ track record could still get him a look on a one-year deal this summer but it’ll be considerably lower than the $3.6MM AAV he has on his current contract.
- The timing of Magnus Hellberg’s one-year deal through the rest of this season seemed curious but fellow goalie Alex Nedeljkovic indicated to Max Bultman of The Athletic (subscription link) that there had been rumors of Hellberg signing for a little while and that visa issues were holding up the announcement. By the time Hellberg gets through the immigration process, he may only be available to dress for the final few games and if they were looking to sign him closer to the trade deadline as Nedeljkovic inferred, they’re likely to give the 31-year-old a few starts.
- The Red Wings also aren’t likely to bring back veteran goaltender Calvin Pickard next season, notes Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News. The 29-year-old (who is currently up with Detroit on emergency recall but is injured) is in his third season with the team and has seen NHL action in each of those years. This season, he has a 2.58 GAA along with a .918 SV% with AHL Grand Rapids but with top prospect Sebastian Cossa set to turn pro next season, the Red Wings will want to ensure he has ample game action with the Griffins which will likely push them to let Pickard hit the open market.
14 Players Clear Waivers
Sunday: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that all 14 names from yesterday have cleared waivers.
Saturday: As expected, it’s another busy day on the waiver wire with opening rosters being submitted to the NHL on Monday. Chris Johnston of the Toronto Star and TSN reports (Twitter links) that the following 14 players are on waivers today:
D John Moore (BOS)
F Chris Wagner (BOS)
F Byron Froese (CGY)
F Justin Kirkland (CGY)
G Calvin Pickard (DET)
D Thomas Hickey (NYI)
F Richard Panik (NYI)
F Anthony Angello (PIT)
F Dylan Gambrell (SJ)
F Logan Brown (STL)
F Mackenzie MacEachern (STL)
D Alex Biega (TOR)
F Kurtis Gabriel (TOR)
D Michal Kempny (WSH)
As expected, today’s list is a little more interesting as teams get closer to making their final cuts with more notable players. Several veterans are on the wire today, headlined by Kempny and Moore on the back end. Both players are coming off injury-plagued seasons (Achilles for Kempny, hip for Moore) and could benefit from some regular action in the minors to get back into playing shape. If they clear, Washington and Boston would only receive $1.125MM in cap relief; Kempny carries a $2.5MM AAV for this season while Moore is at $2.75MM for the next two seasons.
Up front, Panik and Wagner are a pair of veterans that have considerable NHL experience. Panik split last season between the Capitals and Red Wings, picking up 13 points in 48 games. Detroit is retaining half of his $2.75MM AAV, meaning that if he was claimed, the team that picks him up would only be carrying him at $1.375MM. Wagner is in the second season of a three-year deal with a $1.35MM AAV and while his production tumbled last season to just five points in 41 games with the Bruins, he has been one of the more physical players in the league in recent years. Again, if they clear, those teams would only get $1.125MM in cap space.
Brown’s stint with his hometown team didn’t go particularly well evidently with him being on waivers so quickly. As part of the trade from Ottawa, the Senators will send a fourth-round pick to the Blues if the 2016 first-round pick doesn’t play in 30 games with St. Louis. All of a sudden, that pick looks a lot likelier to transfer.
Among the other forwards, Angello and Gambrell are somewhat interesting as well. Angello played in 19 games on the fourth line with the Penguins last season, picking up four points along with 51 hits and actually carries a cap hit that’s $25K below the league minimum which could be appealing to cap-strapped teams. As for Gambrell, he has played in 99 games with the Sharks over the last two seasons and logged over 16 minutes a game for them last season. He was a highly-speculated candidate to be selected by Seattle in expansion although they went with Alexander True instead. Gambrell makes $1.1MM this season and is controllable through arbitration through 2024.
Red Wings Re-Sign Sam Gagner And Calvin Pickard
The Red Wings are bringing back a pair of veterans, announcing (Twitter links) that they’ve re-signed Sam Gagner and Calvin Pickard to one-year contracts. PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that Gagner’s deal is for $850K.
The 31-year-old Gagner was acquired by Detroit back at the 2019 trade deadline for salary matching purposes in the trade that brought Andreas Athanasiou to Edmonton. He did well enough in his brief stint with the Red Wings to earn a one-year deal last summer, albeit at a significant pay cut as he went from a $3.15MM AAV to just $850K in the process. He played in 42 games with Detroit last season, notching seven goals and eight assists and should once again fill a depth role.
As for Pickard, he spent most of the year on Detroit’s taxi squad as their third-string option. He wound up getting in just six games with the Red Wings, posting a 3.16 GAA with a .874 SV% while suiting up only three times with AHL Grand Rapids. He’ll be expected to play much more with the Griffins next season with Alex Nedeljkovic and Thomas Greiss comprising Detroit’s goaltending tandem with the 29-year-old Pickard serving as veteran depth once again.
Two Players Clear Waivers
May 10: Both players have cleared waivers.
May 9: The waiver wire has been relatively quiet over the past month but a pair of players are on the wire today as CapFriendly reports (Twitter links) that Detroit goaltender Calvin Pickard and Anaheim center Sam Carrick have both been waived. The intention for both teams is to get their respective veterans back to the AHL for the final few games with the Ducks’ affiliate also set to take part in the Pacific Division playoffs. Pickard had been on recall long enough to require waivers to go back down while Carrick had played in more than ten games, necessitating his placement.
Pickard has spent the majority of the season on the taxi squad for the Red Wings although he has managed to get into six games with Detroit, including four starts. In those contests, he posted a 3.16 GAA with a save percentage of .874. He suited up just once with AHL Grand Rapids this season but will now have a chance to get into a few more games over the final week. The 29-year-old is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
As for Carrick, he was relatively productive in his time with the Ducks this season, posting two goals and four assists in 13 games while averaging just under 13 minutes per game. That more than doubled his career point output over parts of four previous years with Toronto and Anaheim. Carrick has also been productive with AHL San Diego, picking up 14 goals and 10 helpers in 27 games, sitting fifth in team scoring despite playing in just three games in the minors since the end of March. Like Pickard, the 29-year-old will become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
It’s worth noting that players claimed off waivers after the trade deadline are ineligible to play for the remainder of the season. As a result, there’s little reason for anyone to place a claim and assuming they clear on Monday, they’ll be able to return to their respective AHL teams.