Calvin Pickard reports to his new team, Oilers make roster move as Olympic break ends
The Olympic break for NHLers has officially concluded with players reporting back to their teams for practice, and Calvin Pickard has arrived for the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.
The Oilers allowed Pickard to take the time off even though they placed him on waivers just before the Olympic break. Now however, the plan for Pickard isn’t clear.
Not only that, but the Edmonton Oilers made an interesting roster move to send rookie Matt Savoie down to the AHL.
Calvin Pickard reports to AHL, Matt Savoie also headed to minors
According to Condors reporters today at practice, Pickard has officially reported to practice down in California. It seems like he will in fact be playing AHL games, when at first it was believed he would just stay in limbo between the Oilers and the minors.
Pickard’s presence in the minors itself with complicate the Oilers plans for their goaltenders in the organization.
The Condors already have veteran Matt Tomkins who’s posting solid results with a .912 save percentage, and an emerging talent with Connor Ungar who has a stellar .933. Insider Jim Matheson has said the Oilers don’t want to take away starting opportunities for either goalie.
We’ll see how the Oilers handle the 3-goalie issue in the AHL moving forward, but the veteran Pickard shouldn’t be taking away opportunities for their emerging prospect Ungar. Pickard may not play much at all in the AHL, but stay hot in warmups and practice in case he’s called up for injury insurance again.
The Oilers also made an interesting roster move of sending down rookie Matt Savoie to the AHL today. Savoie has spent the entire year with the Oilers, and is developing nicely into a two-way talent already capable of top-9 minutes.
Insider Bob Stauffer has reported that Savoie will in fact play for the Condors during this assignment, but it’s still being done only for cap purposes. He should be back with the NHL squad directly after he plays.
Sending down Savoie between now and when the NHL resumes play will save the Oilers a bit of cap space, which will accrue and increase their flexibility to add at the trade deadline.
We’ll see if the Oilers have any more tweaks to their roster coming out of the Olympic break very soon, as the team begins shaping their roster for the final stretch of the season.
Also read on Edmonton Hockey Daily :
Tom Wilson speaks on Olympic fight, Team France banning their own player afterward
Tom Wilson speaks on Olympic fight, Team France banning their own player afterward