Just Who Is Cam Talbot?

The Meet and Greet*

FAN: So you’re the new Oilers’ goalie….

CT: Yep. That’s me.

FAN: No pressure, but I hope you’re better than Dubnyk and Scrivens. They were terrible.

CT: I’ll do my best.

FAN: I’d hate to see what the fans would do if you started the season as bad as they did. It wouldn’t be pretty.

CT: …

FAN: Hey, I thought of a great nickname for you: Cam the Man! Not bad, eh?

CT: So it was nice to meet you, but I gotta go.

FAN. Oh…. Good luck next season!

*This conversation is completely fictional.

Who Is He and How’d He Get Here?

Last season, the proportions of the awfulness of the Oilers’ goaltending were epic. Back in May, I wrote a little piece about the goaltending, and this is what I had to say:

There’s no way to sugarcoat it. The goaltending of Scrivens and Fasth was disastrous in 2014-15. Oiler fans probably still have nightmares of Scrivens’ puck-handling miscues, many of which led to goals against. Among goalies who played at least 25 games, there were none with a worse even strength save percentage than Scrivens and Fasth.

Basically, if the Oilers had just picked up two random goalies off the street, the results would have been better than that of Scrivens and Fasth.

Enter Cam Talbot.

Talbot was acquired by the Oilers in a trade with the New York Rangers during the 2015 NHL Draft. The trade has been hailed as a win for Oilers’ GM Peter Chiarelli. Chiarelli sent three picks to the Rangers (57th, 79th, 184th) for Talbot and a pick (209th). Rangers’ GM (and former Oilers’ GM) Glen Sather tried to save face by saying he was doing his old team a favour. (Sorry, not buying it, Glen.)

The Talbot trade is one of several good things that happened for the Oilers and their fans this off-season. Oiler fans love to complain (“The Oilers gave up way too much for Griffin Reinhart! And that Martin Maricin trade was absolute garbage!”), and there’s been much to complain about. But all in all, it’s been a good summer. Let me count the ways.

• The Oilers won the draft lottery and the right to draft a generational player in Connor McDavid.
• The Oilers hired an experienced, successful general manger in Peter Chiarelli.
• The Oilers hired an experienced, successful coach in Todd McLellan.
• The Oilers traded for the best available goalie in Cam Talbot.
• The Oilers signed arguably the best free agent defenseman.

What to Expect

The past two seasons have seen Talbot post impressive save percentages as Henrik Lundqvist’s backup: .941 in 2013-14 and .926 last season. But will he excel as a starter? That’s the big, gnawing question. But it’s not possible that he could be as bad as Scrivens and Fasth were, right? Right?!

Speaking of Scrivens, how’s he feel about the Oilers bringing in Talbot? If he’s mad, he’s not letting it be known. Mark Spector quotes Scrivens as saying,

We need two goalies to play. Look, we didn’t have a great year as a team last year, I didn’t personally have a great year. I don’t see how I could be upset about our organization trying to get better in any way it can.

Let’s hope the Oilers get better and that Cam Talbot is a big part of that getting better.

If you’d like a more detailed look at Talbot, you can check out Nick Mercadante’s “2015 Report Card: Cam Talbot” and Woodguy’s “Talbot Might Be the New Schneider.”