The Oilers may have just found their new starting goaltender
The Edmonton Oilers laid a smack down on the Nashville Predators last night, dominating them by a score of 5-1.
The game presented many storylines, such as Viktor Arvidsson and Zach Hyman notching their first goals of the 2024-25 campaign, but the biggest surprise so far has been backup goaltender Calvin Pickard, who has no emerged as the front runner for the starting goaltender position.
Liam McCormick, Oilers Daily
It's no surprise by now that starting goaltender Stuart Skinner has been far from the stellar performer the Oilers saw during the 2024-25 post season.
To be fairly blunt, the 2024-25 Oilers can be considered fortunate to have collected 9 standings points from the opening 10. According to the Cult of Hockey, the Oilers went 3-0-1 in close games but 1-5-0 in those decided by 3 or more goals. Three times the Oil were lit up for 5+ goals in a game. Meanwhile, there were no games at all where they scored 5 at the good end, a feat the squad accomplished 21 times a season ago.
Stuart Skinner's game has also been put into question at the national level. Recently, Skinner has been taken off the projected team Canada roster ahead of the highly anticipated 4 Nations Cup.
Allowing just 1 goal on 27 shots last night, Calvin Pickard is clearly the hottest goaltender out of the pair, and fans are calling for head coach Kris Knoblauch to ride the hot hand.
| POLL | ||
Should Calvin Pickard be the starting goalie? | ||
| Yes | 158 | 81 % |
| No | 37 | 19 % |
| List of polls | ||
