Calvin Pickard has cleared waivers. The goalie had been placed on the National Hockey League waiver wire on Sunday at noon MT by the Edmonton Oilers. Pickard, who’s in the second year of his two-year contract worth $1-million annually with the Oilers, is now eligible to be sent to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors. The 33-year-old lost his backup role to Connor Ingram last month. He has a 5-6-2 record, a 3.68 goals-against average and a .871 save percentage this season. Pickard, who played a key role in net for the Oilers in their Stanley Cup Finals runs the last two seasons, hasn’t dressed for a game since goalie Tristan Jarry returned from injury on Jan. 13. The Oilers turned to Pickard when then-starting goalie Stuart Skinner struggled early in the playoffs in both 2024 and 2025, helping them to series victories. The Oilers acquired Jarry for Skinner in a mid-December trade and recalled Ingram from the AHL when Jarry got hurt soon after. Star Oilers centre Leon Draisaitl said he and his teammates will miss Pickard’s presence, although the goalie is still with the organization. “He’s one of the greatest teammates all of us have had, and he did a lot of great things for this organization, played a lot of big games, a lot of big wins,” Draisaitl told media on Monday after practice. “That part of the business is always tough, to see people go or leave for a little bit.” Emphasis on defensive play wanted Remember those back-to-back shutouts not too long ago? Although the subsequent six home games since those weekend blankings of the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues saw the Oilers record their first three-game win streak of the season, the club has also given up 27 goals in that stretch, good for a 4.50 goals-against mark that’s second-worst in the NHL. Their latest game, a 7-3 drubbing at the hands of the Minnesota Wild, featured the most goals the Oilers have given up in a game since the Dallas Stars scored eight on them on Nov. 25. And what it means to head coach Kris Knoblauch is his team needs to give more “awareness to details and (commit) to good, defensive hockey.” “Overall, scoring goals is not an issue. We’ve been creating a lot of offence, scoring a lot of goals, whether it’s on the power play or at five-on-five, but every time we’re out there, we’re thinking about scoring goals rather than defending, and a lot of our issues are on that,” Knoblauch said Monday. “The last couple of years, we’ve been pretty good defending – not the best, but overall, one of the better teams – and this year, we haven’t nearly been at that same level. Whether or not that’s different personnel, we need to change some things up.” Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm freely admits the team gives up too many odd-man rushes and breakaways, saying they need to address the “quality of looks” they’re giving the opposition. But Ekholm said he’d rather have the challenge to play better defensively than to score more. “It’s a mental thing for us,” he said. “To a man, we have to emphasize how important it is, and especially come playoff time, we’ve shown it, but it’s not like you can push a button when that time comes around.” Ekholm suggested that, “while not an excuse,” the busier-than-usual schedule – the Oilers have played 56 regular-season games thus far in 2025-26; a year ago, they’d played 52 through Feb. 2 – is demanding, and that if players don’t bring that “oomph and physicality” to games, the opposition is “going to run you down.” “The toughest part of when you play a lot of games is getting emotionally up for every single battle,” Ekholm told reporters. “It’s human nature. It’s the same for everybody, though, and some teams seem to be playing pretty good defence.”
