Cal Pickard

[tarheelhockey]

I've watched a handful of Avs games lately and this kid has been in net each time. 2nd round pick in 2010, the third goalie taken after Campbell and Visentin. The second out of that draft class to make a splash in the league, after Freddy Andersen.

From what I've seen, he looks like a pretty solid NHL'er. He's sporting a .929 after 8 games, which is more impressive when you consider he's playing in losing efforts most nights. Looking at his game log, he's faced 30+ shots in about half his games and has a .924 in those games. Not a particularly big goalie but he seems to play big.

Bear in mind he wouldn't even be playing if not for injuries to both Varlamov and Berra.

Thoughts on this kid?

Click to read more...

 

[BC Ben]

He was always a guy that played solid, positional hockey between the pipes... He didn't have the same hype that Campbell and Visentin had coming out of the draft, probably due to size being listed as 6'0" (though that's a hockey lie - Campbell at 6'4" and Visentin at 6'2").

I think he will make a capable backup in the NHL and could play his way into a 1A-1B situation somewhere.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

He's a lot better than Reto Berra.

 

[cgf]

I've been amazed at how much he has improved his rebound control this season. It was by far his biggest area of concern and showed a lot in his first call up, particularly the game against Montreal. But after going down and getting called up again he's been infinitely better at pushing rebounds out into the corners or swallowing them up.

Not really sure how good he can get, but he recovers quickly, plays the puck well, sees the puck well, seems to have the right mindset to handle getting pummeled with shots like he did in junior and for our AHL team, and most importantly, he's working with allaire's team and they seem to have a great relationship based on the strides he's made

 

[The Nuge]

He's a lot better than Reto Berra.

To be fair, that's really not saying much

 

[tigervixxxen]

Berra is not injured. When Pickard was called up the first time and made his NHL debut it's because Berra got hurt 2 minutes into the game and then Pickard started the next night. Then the second time he was called up he backed up Berra and was put in two consecutive games in the first period after Berra let in 3 goals in each, the Avs came back to win both games. Now Pickard is essentially the starter while Varly is out. When Varly is back he probably goes back to the AHL.

I watched a lot of him in the AHL last year, he was pretty inconsistent. He was part of a 1A/1B situation there, wasn't even the starter. Then this summer he went to Switzerland with Allaire and had a good enough camp to be named the #1 in the AHL, which was a big step. His stints with the Avs have given him confidence and he has played well in the AHL too.

It's fun watching him play, he's so easy to root for. He competes so hard and is a really great kid.

 

[JKinCLE]

I'm surprised to see him playing this well in the NHL. After seeing him for a few years in Lake Erie, he like he could possibly become a serviceable backup in the NHL. As Tigervixxen said, he was pretty inconsistent. Good for him though, he currently has better NHL stats than AHL.

 

[cgf]

I'm surprised to see him playing this well in the NHL. After seeing him for a few years in Lake Erie, he like he could possibly become a serviceable backup in the NHL. As Tigervixxen said, he was pretty inconsistent. Good for him though, he currently has better NHL stats than AHL.

He was also very young and working with Allaire has done wonders for his rebound control, which was at the heart of a lot of his inconsistency and didn't help the crappy defenses he's had to play behind.

 

[Jray42]

Wtf happened to his brother Chet?

 

[fmrdh]

Wtf happened to his brother Chet?

Playing in Denmark.

I saw him play in Winnipeg as a kid, don't know what happened to him after being drafted in the 1st round.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

I've always been a Calvin fan - some of those Seattle teams were Godawful, and he was the only thing keeping us from being demoted to some pee-wee league in Thailand.

Great battler.

 

[MacBradley]

He's played really well. He played really well for an awful Seattle team in the WHL too. I have been waiting a few years to see him finally get a shot at the NHL level. With Varly's injury issues/history, he might be the perfect fit if he can prove to be a guy that's more a 1B than a backup.

His style in interesting to watch. He's medium sized, but quick. It looks a lot of times like he's not covering the net, but he finds a way to get into position before the shooter or the rebound. It reminds me of Broduer/Hasek and other 90's style goalies, where they're reading the play and making something that looks like a "save" as opposed to being in the best position of a probable shot and letting the puck hit them.

 

[Frenchy]

Pickard was average at best on his first stint with the Avs . Questionable positioning in net and most important his biggest flaw was his ciment glove . I'm Guessing Allaire worked with Pickard to make the proper adjustments because he's not the same goalie anymore .

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

He was drafted with the potential to one day become a very good #1G in the league.

He's never really had a bad year in development, he was just coming along really slowly up until now.


Something happened this summer in his brain because everything just started clicking for him.


Through 21 games this season in the AHL and NHL(13 in AHL, 8 in NHL), he's put up a .924 sv% including a .929 at the NHL level.



He's overtaken Berra for sure on the Avs depth charts. Only reason he hasn't stayed up as backup when Varly came was because of his non waiver ability. Berra likely gets traded very soon and we roll with Varly/Pickard moving forward.



For a season that so far has been a monumental disappointment for almost every Avs player, Pickard Barrie and EJ have been about the only positives, and Pickard has been the biggest positive. Turning into one of the best goalie prospects in the league right now.

 

[tucker3434]

Probably playing over his head right now, but he has been very good.

 

[Stad]

He's a lot better than Reto Berra.

Can't believe the Avs gave up a 2nd round pick for him

 

[Frenchy]

Can't believe the Avs gave up a 2nd round pick for him

welcome to the Avs world , we're in disbelief too

 

[HockeyFan100]

One of the few bright spots on this team. He's been great

 

[jstreet]

Wtf happened to his brother Chet?

He was a bust

 

[cgf]

Can't believe the Avs gave up a 2nd round pick for him

Yeah, with the great work Allaire had done with Varly and now Pickard I don't wanna give him too much grief about picking Berra, especially cause Berra was his second choice after the Oilers made a move for Scrivens.

But that move is still rough. Berra has some tools to be a solid backup, though his recovery to second shots is astoundingly slow to go with some really wonky angles when he's struggling to track the puck, but if he has that job what happened in his last two starts can never happen. And Berra's confidence seems to be rather fragile when he's struggling, so I dunno if even Allaire can smooth out his kinks.

 

[biturbo19]

Wtf happened to his brother Chet?

Pretty wild how he just dropped off the face of the earth.

Just didn't have the quickness for the next level i guess. But if you'd told me prior to either being drafted that Calvin would be the guy with the brighter future, i would've been fairly skeptical.

 

[FinPanda]

Bad for Aittokallio's future. But good for him.

 

[The Shermanator]

He is avatar worthy.

 

[S E P H]

This kid is definitely the real deal. Thankfully he is, since the Kings actually traded up to the Avs pick to select Toffoli where we picked up Los Angeles's later 2nd and I believe a 4th. Pickard was the later 2nd.

Stopped a breakaway in OT with a rebound and went 2 for 2 in the shootout.

 

[Avs_19]

Another great game for him tonight. Has to do stuff like this on a regular basis because of the Avs terrible defense:

[NHL]697436[/NHL]