[1899b]

Originally Posted by Walleyedude

Russell is a 3/4 guy, maybe even 4/5 depending on the team, but I don't understand the lack of love for Klefbom. He's a solid D man with offensive skill that eats up tons of minutes, and he absolutely would play on the top pair on a lot of NHL teams.

I don't care what team it is, if you take away 3 of their top 4 or 5 D men (Klefbom, Sekera, Russell), they're going to get exposed on defense at times. That "bush league" D core came away with a point against the 4th place team in the NHL last night, a team with major offensive firepower and the top ranked power play. Why the need to panic?

Remember when Talbot was the second coming of Fuhr? Yeah, me too, and now we're ready to dump him for a bucket of pucks? Remember in the pre-season when everyone thought Chiarelli was nuts for signing Koskinen and wanted him gone for a bucket of pucks? Yeah, me too. Koskinen has been great in his VERY small sample size, no doubt, and I'm willing to give him the net as the #1 for sure, but you're going to need two solid goalies if you're going to make it, especially in the Oiler's case, where neither one has a track record of being a consistent #1.

I don't like a Talbot trade unless the return is a true top pairing D man or possibly a top 6 RW. That is NOT going to happen, ZERO chance, at least not without some serious draft picks or a solid prospect as a sweetener. His play over the last 18 months (the reason Koskinen has emerged and everyone seems so eager to dump him) and his status as an RFA make his trade value pretty low. We don't need another Gravel or Benning, or even another Russell, and that's what he's going to draw right now in a straight across.

It's too bad the timing isn't working out better, because they have some guys in the minors (Skinner) that have potential, but they're going to need a year or two before they're ready. Trading Talbot right now is kinda playing with fire in my opinion, the reward needs to be pretty big to just the risk.

Talbot has lost his confidence and lets in the softest goals when the save matters big time. Oilers wont get anyone for him at this point. Something is amiss with him the last two seasons big time.

Would be awesome to get St Albert kid Colton Parayko from St Louis who played up in McMurray for the Barons and is a solid D man but Edmonton cant give up anyone at this point that would make the trade attractive. Sounds liek ST louis might be in the mix to change things up.