Joined Lowetide this morning on TSN 1260 to discuss Talbot, some of the team’s underlying issues and what to expect in the coming week. Full audio here:

Couple of notes:

• While Talbot has struggled in his recent games, making some bad plays that have lead to losses, I don’t think it’d be wise to write him off just yet. He had a similar string of games when he took the starting position in New York, but managed to bounce back rather quickly. Goalies go through rough stretches all the time. This is why it’s become even more critical to have a solid backup, which the Oilers have in Nilsson right now.
• What irks me the most is that Talbot’s errors, plus the poor play of other individual’s recently, is diverting attention away from some of the team’s underlying issues. The club is near the bottom of the league when it comes to possession (adjusted Corsi For%), scoring chances and high danger scoring chances. Moving out a goalie or benching a center isn’t going to make a huge difference, so the team is better off finding out what tactical issues they’re having that’s allowing all of those scoring chances. Or maybe solidify your defence core.
• One more thing: If McLellan wanted to reward Nilsson for playing great against Anaheim, why not give him a break and give him the Saturday night, HNIC game in LA? Wouldn’t being named the starter against the Kings be more of a reward?
• Of all of Chiarelli’s off-season moves, the best ones have been the acquisition of Sekera (guy plays the other team’s top lines and moves the puck very well) and the goaltending which was good in October, and poor in November.
• I didn’t like the trade to acquire Reinhart, but he’s still a good prospect that has the potential to be a top four defenceman. My concern when the Oilers acquired him was that he’d be handed a lot of minutes, just because of what it cost to get him. That hasn’t happened, plus he’s been injured, so I don’t think it’s fair to make any grand statements just yet. The problem most people have is the draft picks the Oilers gave up, and the value we all put in those picks. I’ll admit, I thought the 16th and 33rd woudl fetch a very good return. And if the Oilers kept the pick, we’d all fawn over the potential propect the Oilers would get. Instead, our perceived value of the 16th and 33rd only brought in Reinhart, which really let a lot of us down. It’s hard, but throw the cost out the window when watching this kid and assessing his performance.
• Really can’t say enough about Taylor Hall. Dimitri Filipovic had a great write-up on him and the impact he’s had on the Oilers.
• Matt Henderson had a good article on Anton Lander recently questioning if he should even be in the NHL right now, based on his poor season thus far. It’s a fair point. Lander hasn’t scored a single point and hasn’t done much to solidifiy that bottom six. He did get paired with Korpikoski, who is an absolute anchor on any center he’s played with, But even with legitimate wingers in Purcell and Eberle, he hasn’t contributed a whole lot. Still pulling for the guy and I really think he finds a few points this week (if he’s in the lineup).
• If RNH is back, I think the Oilers have a legitimate chance against Chicago. The club played so well in that second period a few weeks ago, but that was only after playing like garbage for the first 20. Seriously have no idea why the Oilers get beat up that badly in the first. Maybe just start spotting the opposition a two goal lead to start every game.