Edmonton Oilers Shake Things Up Ahead of Predators Game After Rough Start to the NHL Season

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Chris Gerics
October 17, 2024 (5:33 PM)

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From being in the Stanley Cup Finals last year to winning only one of four to start the year, the Edmonton Oilers are making a wild roster move to get things going.

It's been a rough start to the year for the Edmonton Oilers. From starting the season 0-3 to having superstar Connor McDavid's campaign beginning a little frostier than expected it's a disappointing start for a team that came into the season with incredibly high aspirations and were pegged as potential Stanley Cup winners.

So with the team needing to get off to a better start in this young campaign, Edmonton is making a big shake-up ahead of their game against the Nashville Predators on Thursday, appointing backup goaltender Calvin Pickard as the starter in place of Stuart Skinner:

Pickard will get the call against a struggling Predators team that is searching for their first win of the season. For his career, Pickard has been serviceable as a backup with time spent between Colorado, Toronto, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Edmonton but the numbers don't look amazing on paper with a 47-62-11 record, 2.95 GAA and .903%. Kris Knoblauch and company will look to Pickard to help stop the bleeding for an Oilers team that has given up 18 goals already four games into the season and has looked lost defensively, not to mention the goaltending overall has been bad.

It's unfortunate for Edmonton to have such a rough start to the season after all the hype, and if they don't figure something out soon, then it's another wasted year of Connor McDavid's potential with yet another season without success. It doesn't help when the Oilers are getting toyed around with when it comes to the officials and have already had a couple of goals rescinded due to some questionable officiating. It's still early but this is the time to assert dominance in the league, and when you have a goaltender scoring more goals than Connor McDavid already this year: they need a wake-up call.

Pickard will get a chance to turn the tides against Nashville when the Oilers take on the Predators from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Edmonton carries a 23-16-3 all-time record against the Predators and will look to add to that total and build momentum towards their Stanley Cup journey.