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Looking at the Oilers cap situation after Pickard cleared waivers
Photo credit: © Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Feb 3, 2026, 09:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 2, 2026, 22:46 EST
After being placed on waivers on Sunday, Calvin Pickard cleared on Monday.
The Oilers were putting off a tough decision, given that, from all accounts, Pickard appears to be a well-liked member of the dressing room. Although he’s been huge in the playoffs when the Oilers needed him to be, the 33-year-old has struggled in 2025-26, posting an .871 save percentage and 3.68 goals against average in 16 games played.
In December, the Oilers traded for Tristan Jarry, and when Jarry went down with an injury, they recalled Connor Ingram. Pickard got a run of games from late December until early January, but once Jarry returned, Pickard has been the odd man out, not having played since January 8th.
Pickard isn’t expected to join the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors until after the Olympic break, though they could still assign him there, and if there’s a situation that arises where they need to recall him, he’ll need to play at least one game , as the league eliminated paper moves.
Because the Oilers are over the cap and operating in their long-term injured reserve pool, they don’t accrue cap space from this transaction. According to Puckpedia, with Pickard sent down, the Oilers are still a little over $1.5 million over the cap, once accounting for Adam Henrique’s contract.
While they aren’t accruing cap right now, that would easily change by trading Andrew Mangiapane. In trading his full cap hit of $3.6 million and not getting any salary back, the Oilers would be out of the LTIR pool and accruing cap. That said, the Olympic roster is free on Friday at 1:00 PM MT, so a move will need to come sooner rather than later.
Alternatively, they could theoretically get out of the LTIR pool by sending both Matthew Savoie and Josh Samanski down. The latter is set to play for Team Germany at the Olympics, while Savoie could benefit from some minutes in the AHL, as the Condors play six games over the Olympic break. This doesn’t seem likely, as the Oilers play a night game on Wednesday and dropping below 12 forwards is not a great recipe for success.
Could Pickard being sent down be a precursor for another move before the roster freeze, as they now have $1.425 million in cap space? Who knows. If they don’t make a trade before the roster freeze, it stands to reason they’ll be active ahead of the March 6th trade deadline, as the Oilers have quite a few needs, including a third line centre.
We’ll see if anything comes of this.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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