February 2, 2026 by Ryan Lotsberg

If it wasn’t already clear that Calvin Pickard is the number three goalie in the Edmonton Oilers organization, then they made it abundantly clear when they placed the 33-year old veteran on waivers on Sunday. Pickard cleared waivers on Monday.

Pickard and Kirkland clear

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 2, 2026

Pickard has a 5-6-2 record with an .871 SV% and a 3.68 goals against average this season. Among the NHL goalies that have played at least sixteen games this season, his 3.68 GAA in five-on-five situations ranks second last, and his .871 five-on-five SV% is fifth worst according to Moneypuck. He sits 47th in goals saved above expected/60 (-0.243) and in GAA better than expected (-0.25) in five-on-five play.

So, what’s next for Pickard?

Remember that a player clearing waivers does not automatically mean that the player gets sent down to the AHL. If a team wants to send a player that just cleared waivers to the AHL, then they can do so in a separate transaction. The Oilers have not formally announced a transaction involving Pickard going to the AHL as of the time of this writing. The player can move between the two leagues freely for 30 days, or they can play up to ten NHL games before requiring waivers to be sent down again.

The Oilers organizational goaltending situation makes it more complicated than just simply sending Pickard down right now. The complicating factor is the play of Connor Ungar. Ungar has played for four different professional teams this season. He started the season with the Oilers’ ECHL affiliate, the Ft. Wayne Komets. The Komets also have rookies Nathaniel Day and Samuel Jonsson on their roster. The crowded crease in Ft. Wayne made it necessary to loan Ungar to another ECHL team. He was first loaned to the Greensboro Gargoyles, then the Orlando Solar Bears.

Connor Ingram started the season with the Bakersfield Condors before being called up after Tristan Jarry got injured. Ungar played stellar hockey in the ECHL and earned an opportunity in the AHL after Ingram got called up. He’s been dominant at the AHL level since arriving in mid-December, and I’m sure the organization wants to continue looking at him at the AHL level.

Related: What Tuesday’s Oilers moves mean going forward

If Ungar wasn’t playing so well, there would be no hesitation to loan him to an ECHL team again to make room for Pickard, but he’s earned an AHL spot. I would wager a guess that the Oilers likely want to keep looking at Ungar at the AHL level and are likely hesitant to find another loan situation for him this season, although I wouldn’t totally rule it out as it would be the option that would allow the Oilers to keep all of these goalies in the organization without running a three-goalie platoon on the big club or the farm team.

Matt Tomkins was brought in specifically to be an AHL goaltender. Perhaps there’s a minor-league trade to be had somewhere, but the problem with that is Tomkins is signed for next season as well and this roster crunch won’t be an issue next season. Trading Tomkins now creates a problem for next season. He’s also playing tremendously well right now, and moving him could hurt the Condors’ fortunes this season.

If Pickard was to be sent down to Bakersfield, he would be replacing one of those two men, or they would have to run with three goalies down there. That’s what the Oilers have to weigh before making the decision to send Pickard down.

We also have to remember that the Oilers are in LTIR. They need to shed $2,086,666 before they can activate Adam Henrique from LTIR after the Olympic break. Sending Pickard ($1M) and Josh Samanski ($975k) down to Bakersfield would not put the Oilers under the cap. They would not be able to accrue cap space by sending those two players down. Another player would have to removed from the roster in addition to those two for the Oilers to be able to start accruing cap space. Moving Andrew Mangiapane on his own would allow the Oilers to accrue cap space though.

Because Samanksi was not on the Oilers’ season opening roster submission and the Oilers are utilizing LTIR, the average of his potential performance bonuses over the length of his contract ($487,500) is applied as a cap hit reduction. That value does not get removed from the Oilers’ annual cap hit, which is the number that needs to be reduced by $2,086,666 to activate Henrique from LTIR.

If Samanski was to be sent down while the Oilers are still utilizing LTIR, then that cap space reduction would be removed and the Oilers would have that cap space to use while in LTIR; but it can’t be used to acquire another player for the rest of the season because Henrique will return to the lineup during the regular season.

I wouldn’t rule out Pickard getting traded either. If you recall, Ingram cleared waivers in September before being traded to the Oilers. The Oilers were then able to send Ingram to Bakersfield immediately without risking losing their newly acquired asset on waivers. That was a different situation, but the same concept would apply to Pickard. An acquiring team would have the option to send him to the AHL in the next 30 days without subjecting him to waivers (there won’t be ten NHL games for him to play in on any team in the next 30 days because of the Olympic break).

Ingram was traded to the Oilers for future considerations, which we all know is code for a big pile of nothing. That could be a possible outcome for Pickard as well given the fact that teams could have claimed him on waivers for free. Part of the reason the Oilers waited so long to waive Pickard could be because they were looking for a trade for Pickard but couldn’t find a taker at their asking price. This could be a compromise for an acquiring team. It would suck for the Oilers to lose Pickard for nothing, but sending him to a team where he will have more opportunity would be doing right by the player, as was done for Ingram in September.

I’m personally hoping for a trade where the Oilers gain an asset of some kind for Pickard, but the most important thing in my opinion is that Pickard gets the chance to play somewhere and doesn’t spend the rest of the season sitting out.