If you were lucky enough to listen to the Edmonton Oilers’ radio broadcast last night, you might’ve heard Bob Stauffer say that he thinks a goalie is going to be moved to clear up cap space and that he’d like to see a defender brought in. But who’s making that trade if Chiarelli gets the axe in the next seven days?
Well, I don’t think it takes too much to figure out which goalie Stauffer’s talking about. Given that comment followed a game where Cam Talbot got shelled for seven goals and how we’ve been talking about him being available on more than one occasion this year.
I’ve been in touch with my sources and from what I’ve gathered, I believe that there are three teams in on Talbot. Maybe more.
- Carolina Hurricanes
- Philadelphia Flyers
- St.Louis Blues
I’ve wondered if Chicago would be in on him too given the current and unknown future status of Corey Crawford.
Now, out of those teams, Carolina and Philadelphia could afford Talbot’s salary ($4.166 million) outright.
- Carolina has $31 million in cap space right now.
- Philadelphia has $14 million available.
- St. Louis has a shade over $2.2 million open.
- Chicago has $6.3 million to use.
My feeling is that Philly is the most desperate to upgrade their goaltending, but I’ve heard all they’re offering is defenseman Robert Hagg and that simply won’t do. Edmonton has enough left-handed defenders as it is and it’s my understanding that they aren’t looking to acquire young players.
I’m not sure about the status of the negotiations between Wayne Simmonds and the Flyers right now but I’d be very happy with a straight swap (Talbot for Simmonds) if that could be managed. If not him, bring me Radko Gudas!
Carolina is having major issues scoring, therefore, I’m skeptical as to how urgent they are to acquire a goalie. That said, Trevor Van Riemsdyk ($2.3 million until 2019-20) would be a very handy addition to the Oilers. He’d be an excellent 2nd/3rd pairing defender because he’s adept at moving the puck and he’s a fantastic skater. At the moment though, he’s buried behind Justin Faulk, Dougie Hamilton, and Brett Pesce.
(Fack. Why aren’t the Oilers looking at one of Faulk, Pesce, and Hamilton? Sell Nurse to them and add a sweetener. Do your team a favor, Pete! FFS.)
As for the Blues, they’ve got Jake Allen as their starter and no matter how disillusioned they might be with his performances this year, I think they’re stuck with him. With that in mind, if they found a taker for him and were still interested in Talbot, I’d have time for Robby Fabbri but the more prudent acquisition (or re-acquisition I should say) would be David Perron. He’s got a M-NTC though, and I’d be hard-pressed to believe he’d waive that to go back to Edmonton.
Wondering who would be the back-up if Talbot is moved? Well, if you haven’t noticed, Dylan Wells and Shane Starrett have been sharing the net for Bakersfield lately. Weird, right? Especially when Al Montoya is right there. The Condors head coach Jay Woodcroft said that Monty had been out with sickness but it’s been a month. What kind of ailment is this that keeps a guy out for a month?
Anyways, I think if Talbot is moved, Montoya is called up. Illness be damned.
Other Moves?
From all of my conversations since last night, It looks like the Oilers are going to try and chip and chase their way into the playoffs. What I mean by that is since their hands are tied by the cap, they’ve got try and unearth another diamond in the rough ala Alex Chiasson. I’ve heard they’re looking at other leagues to find players who can help with depth scoring. Perhaps skaters with NHL experience, possibly some players who haven’t signed a contract yet this year but are still interested at playing but are training elsewhere.
Man. Wouldn’t it be something if the Oilers could get Rick Nash to agree to play out the season with them?
The brass and the coaches aren’t happy with the players’ refusal to go to the net. So they’re looking for players who have a reputation for doing so. Which I love because I’m a huge fan of net drivers. If you haven’t caught it, goals seem to get scored when there’s a bit of chaos that shakes loose.
I wish them luck in their search.
