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Can Oilers trust Pickard as their No. 2 goalie long-term?



Martin Biron and Bryan Hayes join That’s Hockey to discuss if the Oilers can trust Calvin Pickard as their backup or if they should look to add at the deadline, and how Edmonton can avoid a letdown tonight against the league’s worst home team in the Ducks.

29 Comments

  1. Hill came in as a rookie and won a Cup! Skinner can too! The Oiler defense just need to do their job in front of him!, And they can, just need their commitment. IMO you're only good as your defense' willingness to compete! You put Hill or Vasilevski in a Chicago uniform? they'd be mere mortals.

  2. Oilers do need a goalie, they have 4 good options in the system. They can use that space for a D man or a 3rd line guy who can score from time to time

  3. Every team we’ve ever gone deep with has had better goaltenders. Having a flower to make sure there’s no bull shit and to save some games is huge. Problem is skinner has show he shuts down sometimes with competition in his ring so that could destroy thing if the new goalie doesn’t steal the show a basic tandem is not what we need

  4. Tough call. If the Oilers could send any goalies up or down without waivers or cap implications, I would say Marty is 100% correct. But this might be their best chance to win, and there might not be very many teams that have ever been this good, if not for the historically bad goaltending they were getting early in the year*.

    It might be too much of a gamble to go into the playoffs without a proven veteran backup.

    *Please do not try to argue that the problem wasn't goaltending. The Oilers had great numbers in virtually every goaltending-independent stat…but league-worst goaltending.

  5. Pickard is playing great. He's doing everything you could ask. The most underrated and least respected player in the nhl.

  6. It’s obvious that if you want to be a serious team to win in the playoffs you can’t rely on Pickard. I wouldn’t trade for anyone like Fleury though they need a serious plan on keeping Skinner healthy and Campbell needs to fit into this somehow.

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