Philadelphia Flyers Acquire Goaltender Cam Talbot

Nothing is going right for the Edmonton Oilers this season. After missing the playoffs last year the hope heading into this season was that it was an aberration. If anything, the team is even worse this season. They are currently tied for 14th place in the 15 team Western Conference and have lost 4 straight going 1-7-2 in their last 10 games. The team is looking for answers and they’ve started at the back by shipping veteran goaltender Cam Talbot to the Philadelphia Flyers in return for goalie Anthony Stolarz.

Talbot parlayed his strong play as a backup to Henrick Lundqvist in New York into a starting job with the Oilers. In his first season in Edmonton he played extremely well and was a crucial part of getting the Oilers back into the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Talbot put up 42 wins with a 2.39 GAA and .919 save percentage. Edmonton would ultimately lose in the second round but Talbot looked to be the team’s answer in net. The Oilers management rewarded Talbot with a three year contract worth around $4 million per season.

Unfortunately, Talbot’s play has gone downhill ever since. Last season, he had a 3.02 GAA and .908 save percentage. This year his play has continued to decline with a 3.36 goals-against average and .893 save percentage in 31 games. He’s in the final year of his deal and that makes his performance in Philadelphia crucial to his future. A strong showing could get him a new deal with the Flyers or another team.

It’s a good move for Philadelphia who has been playing extremely good hockey over the past six weeks. The Flyers are 11-1-1 since late January and are starting to think that a playoff run might be a realistic goal. Much of the Flyers’ success has been due to the impressive play of 20 year old rookie goaltender Carter Hart. Hart is 12-6-1 with a 2.62 goals against average and a .921 save percentage. The expectation is for Talbot to back up Hart in the near term but in some ways this is also an ‘audition’ for a more permanent gig per Flyers’ GM Chuck Fletcher:

“We’ll have an opportunity to evaluate Cam as he’ll have an opportunity to evaluate us. I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves here — right now we’re in a playoff chase and we’ve added a quality player to our team. We’ll just let things play out. It’s hard to predict the future.”

Talbot is excited for a change of scenery:

“I don’t think that I would have waived my no-move if it wasn’t something that I saw as more than a six- or- seven-week opportunity. To uproot my family and stuff like that, I saw hopefully a future here,” he said. “I’m just excited now to help with the push and hopefully that all sorts itself out in the long run. If something comes up and both sides can come to an agreement, I’d be more than happy to sign before July 1 and forgo free agency.”

Assuming that Talbot makes at least one start with the Flyers he’s guarantee to help the team set at least one record–he’ll be the 8th starting goaltender that Philadelphia has used this season which would be the most in NHL history. In addition to Carter Hart and Anthony Stolarz the Flyers have at various points this season started Brian Elliott, Calvin Pickard, Michal Neuvirth, Alex Lyon and Mike McKenna.