Calvin Pickard will play key role in Oilers success due to tough scheduling

With the schedule out now, it's easy to see that the Oilers are definitely going to have their work cut out for them this year. The Oilers have 14 back-to-backs this season, with just over a third of their games this season coming on back-to-backs.

This is just as crazy as it sounds and will lead to a lot of tough games for the team. This also puts an unnecessary pressure on the Oilers' goalie tandem, as playing games two days in a row is something that NHL goalies will rarely do. This will put an extra pressure on backup Calvin Pickard, as he'll have a set amount of games he'll have to play.

Pickard was a fine backup last year for the Oilers, playing 23 games with a combined .909 save percentage. Hopefully he won't need to play as many games this year for the team, but should still be around the same level of productivity. He was also fantastic for the Oilers in the limited starts he got in the playoffs, leading to him being brought back by the team for this season.

The team will really need him in these back-to-back games, as Skinner will be taking most of the starts in the regular season. If both goalies can work together to play their best hockey then the Oilers should have no problem securing a high seed in the division this year.