Calvin Pickard's Career Has Been Resurrected
Calvin Pickard has been the Edmonton Oilers most pleasant surprise this season.
EDMONTON -- The Battle of Alberta never ceases to disappoint.
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Although the Calgary Flames find themselves on the outside looking in, they still made things interesting for the Edmonton Oilers last night. The night after the Oilers double up the Colorado Avalanche on shots they get outshot by a 35-27 margin. Despite this, they still won the game 4-2.
Calvin Pickard was brilliant, stopping 33 of 35 shots to pick up his 12 win of the season - and earning the second star of the game honor. He has been nothing short of excellent - and is arguably the biggest surprise for the team this season.
I don't believe anyone thought he'd be playing the role he is now when he signed his two-year two-way deal in July of 2022. Yet he's here, experiencing a career resurrection.
Pickard has played 20 games this year. In those games he has a 12-6-0 record. As far as rate stats go he has a 2.38 goals against average (GAA) and a .913 save percentage (SV%).
For goalies who have played 20 games or more, Pickard is near the top in most categories. He's ranked fifth in GAA and 14th in SV%. Not only is he experiencing success comparative to the rest of the league - he's having success that he hasn't seen since he first entered the league.
The last time Pickard played 20 or more games was when he played 50 back in 2016-17. In the 2015-16 season was the last time that his GAA and SV% was even close to what it is now (2.56 GAA and .922 SV%).
Over the past six seasons he's only played more than six games for one season - in 2018-19 when he split time between the Philadelphia Flyers and Arizona Coyotes organizations.
Pickard has been nothing short of spectacular and is my vote for the Oilers most pleasant surprise of the 2023-24 season.
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