This past summer, Peter Chiarelli made it a point to fix the Oilers goaltending situation. To do so, he acquired Cam Talbot from the New York Rangers for a pile of picks, then picked up Anders Nilsson from Chicago for prospect Liam Coughlin.
Both of these goalies were coming off of solid 2014-15 seasons and both were deemed as good bets by the new GM. I was also in this camp, I thought it was a pair of solid bets by Chiarelli. Therefore, I will not blame him for trying this route, it made sense at the time and it still may yet pan out for this hockey club, although I am much less confident today in that.
What has gone wrong for these two guys? Well, they aren’t consistent, it’s that simple. Both Talbot and Nilsson have shown signs that they are the guy, but those signs have only been hot streaks for both guys. Just like the past few seasons, neither goaltender has taken the reigns and ran with it.
Talbot:
Cam Talbot was supposed to be the guy that came in and stabilized this organization in between the crease. Instead? He’s been nothing but inconsistent. Sure, Talbot has shown signs of being the goalie we had hoped. In wins over Boston and Winnipeg at the start of the month, he posted SV%’s of .959 and .978 respectively. In the team’s loss to Anaheim on New Year’s Eve, he posted a mark of .971, and was .917 in an OT loss to Vancouver back on Boxing Day. All good numbers.
At the start of the season, Talbot posted games of .933, .923, .917 and .966. However, his season save percentage mark is .906, below average.
Why is that? In three November starts, Talbot posted marks of .857, .857 and .875, while his final three outings in October saw marks of .857, .857 and .844. Talbot also posted a .786(!) mark in Edmonton loss to Los Angeles earlier this week.
There have been nights where Cam Talbot has looked like a strong goaltending option, but there have been just as many nights where he has looked completely lost and cost his team points. If you want to be a starting goalie in the NHL, that cannot happen.
Nilsson:
Anders Nilsson came to Edmonton with little fanfare, in fact many thought he would spend his season in the AHL. After beating out Ben Scrivens in training camp, Nilsson earned a spot and played quite well for a stretch. From November 28th to December 6th, Nilsson posted SV%’s of .951, .920, .950, .977, and .941. Since that time, however, Nilsson has posted marks of .893, .853, .850, .828, .867 and .895. Those are not the numbers of a goalie that plays in the NHL.
Nilsson was strong to start the season, but he’s boarding on an entire month now without having a single quality start for the Edmonton Oilers. In today’s NHL, that cannot happen. As good as he was early on, Nilsson is letting the team down right now and is playing very poorly in net. This is the kind of goaltending that Edmonton got last season, and we know that was not good enough.
Inconsistency is a big issue with the big Swede.
Final Thoughts:
Yes, the goaltending has been better than last year, but it is still not good enough. Some nights, Edmonton’s goaltending is beyond good enough to win, while on other nights it is AHL level. Bottom line is, the Oilers are far too inconsistent at arguably the most important position on the ice. You will not win without good goaltending, that’s just a fact.
Right now, Cam Talbot and Anders Nilsson are simply not giving Edmonton strong enough play in net. I suspect they will get to finish out the season, but if performances don’t improve, I can’t see both sticking around. Peter Chiarelli likes to build his teams strong up the middle, and goaltending is a key part of that up the middle group.
Personally, I think the Oilers need to go away from the bets on backups who might pan out. I think it is time to get a real starting goaltender, someone who can actually carry the load and give Edmonton average to above average goaltending for a few years. This team MUST stop shooting itself in the foot with risks that don’t pan out year after year. It’s time to make it count.
I’d imagine only one of Cam Talbot and Anders Nilsson returns next season on a short-term, low risk contract. The other goaltending spot? I think Peter Chiarelli will look for a more proven NHL option.
This tandem must improve or the Oilers will not leave the NHL’s basement the rest of the season, it’s that simple.
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