Oilers extend backup goalie, defenseman

Edmonton Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard.

The Oilers are finishing up on a two-year contract extension for backup netminder Calvin Pickard, reports ESPN’s Kevin Weekes. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff says it’s a $2M deal ($1M cap hit). He was slated to become a UFA on Monday.

They also have a piece of completed business done for depth defenseman Cam Dineen. The pending Group VI UFA has been retained on a two-year, two-way deal, per PuckPedia. It’ll pay him $775K NHL/$275K AHL ($325K guaranteed) in 2024-25 before bumping to $775K NHL/$350K AHL ($400K guaranteed) in 2025-26.

The extension marks a return to consistent NHL time for Pickard, a 32-year-old journeyman who’d largely been a minor league option since 2019. However, a stretch of poor play from Jack Campbell to open Edmonton’s season caused them to waive him and assign him to the AHL early on, paving the way for Pickard to earn his keep as a backup to Stuart Skinner.

At the time, it was an easy decision. Campbell had struggled ever since signing with the Oilers in free agency in 2022 and sending him down opened up $1.15M in cap space. Meanwhile, Pickard had gotten off to a strong start on the farm, putting up a .939 SV% in his first four outings for the Bakersfield Condors.

Pickard didn’t blow the doors off in his first extended NHL chance, nor did anyone expect him to. However, he was a much more stable option to insert in relief of the developing Skinner and did manage to give the Oilers some above-average play with a .909 SV% and 2.45 GAA in 23 appearances. The Avalanche 2010 second-round pick made his playoff debut in relief of Skinner in Game 3 of their second-round win over the Canucks, starting Games 4 and 5 before Skinner returned after a much-needed reset for Game 6. Pickard held his own with a .915 SV%, helping Edmonton recover and advance to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

A $1M cap hit is fully buriable in the minors if the Oilers fail to find a way to move on from the remainder of Campbell’s contract this summer and he fights for a spot in training camp. Still, it’s a good indication they envision Pickard seeing NHL time for the next two years. His 23 outings this season were his most since being forced into starting action for the Avalanche during their last-place finish in 2016-17.

Meanwhile, Dineen is expected to reprise a top-four role in Bakersfield after spending all this season in the minors. Since acquiring the 26-year-old via trade from the Coyotes in March 2023, he’s put up seven goals and 30 assists for 37 points in 77 games with the Condors while logging a -3 rating. He has seven assists and a -16 rating in 34 career NHL appearances, all of which came in Arizona in 2021-22. Dineen was a third-round pick of the Coyotes in the 2016 draft.

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