Pro Tips with Calvin Pickard
- Actively study opponent tendencies and track play patterns while watching your starter from the bench to stay mentally sharp.
- Prioritize intentional practice sessions with your goalie coach to maintain technical sharpness during long stretches without games.
- Pickard went 25 days with only one start in January 2024, yet posted a shutout (27 saves) when called upon, demonstrating the value of structured preparation.
- Experience in a backup role compounds over time — Pickard notes being older and having prior backup experience made managing long gaps significantly easier.
- Embracing limited opportunities rather than just accepting them is the mental distinction that separates effective backup goalies from struggling ones.
Calvin Pickard went almost a month between starts before getting the assignment for the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of their second round series against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, but the 32-year-old veteran is used to managing long gaps between games.
Pickard went through plenty of long waits between starts after being called up from Bakersfield on Nov. 7 this season after the Oilers, off to a poor start as a team, sent Jack Campbell the other direction. He sat from Nov. 22 to Dec. 10, a two-and-a-half-week break, before stopping 25 of 26 in a win over the New Jersey Devils, and only got one game over a 25 day stretch in January, stopping 16 of 18 in the middle game and all 27 shots for his only shutout of the season when he got back in the net again on Jan. 25.
Pickard talked about staying game ready without playing games — and how to manage long stretches without a shot — in this week’s appearance on the InGoal Radio Podcast.
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