Peter Chiarelli not done yet.

Peter Chiarelli just inked the Edmonton Oilers' goaltender of the future, at least the next 3 years, Cam Talbot.

But in order to capitalize on his investment in Talbot, Chiarelli should be looking to add to its defensive core. Andrej Sekera and Oscar Kelfbom have already been signed long term, suggesting that they will stay in Edmonton. On the other hand, defensemen like Justin Schultz, Mark Fayne and Andrew Ference are unlikely to return next season, meaning that Darnell Nurse and Max Reinhart will be extended at some point. Eric Gryba and Brandon Davidson should return next year, as they have played sound hockey for the Oilers and are giving Edmonton exactly what the organization was expecting from them.

Chiarelli could be very aggressive on the free agent market this summer, but sometimes it can simply become a bidding war and a team ends up paying the double of a player's real worth.

Instead, Chiarelli will have to trade some of his high-end talent players up-front in order to strengthen his blueline. It was rumoured that Chiarelli was really aggressive pursuing Nashville Predators' defenseman Seth Jones, but David Poile, the Preds' general manager, decided to trade Jones to the Columbus Blue Jackets in return for Ryan Johansen.

No matter what Chiarelli decides to do, it is too late to salvage this season and the Oilers will be in the draft lottery again this year. It will be interesting to see if Chiarelli draft according to the Oilers' need or the best player available at that time.

[pub]