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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Pickard isn\u2019t expected to join the AHL\u2019s Bakersfield Condors until after the Olympic break, though they could still assign him there, and if there\u2019s a situation that arises where they need to recall him, he\u2019ll need to play at least one game , as the league eliminated paper moves.<\/p>\n
Because the Oilers are over the cap and operating in their long-term injured reserve pool, they don\u2019t 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\u2019s contract.<\/p>\n
While they aren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n