Continuing on reviewing Peter Chiarelli’s moves one Year in today I look at Cam Talbot.

In June 2015, there was a major hole that needed to be filled. Alright. A few holes that had to be filled. One of them was in goal.

After a shooter tutor like season from both Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth (where they rocked a dreadful 0.890 and 0.888 save percentages respectively), a goaltender was needed.

Luckily there was one available: Cam Talbot of the New York Rangers.

The Talbot Trade

On day two of the draft, I was expecting the Oilers to grab Cam Talbot, who I felt was the best goaltender available. The article that convinced me that Talbot was the guy to grab was from Woodguy55 from becauseoilers.blogspot.com (which is a really great read and analysis). Woodguy said the following about Talbot:

“Talbot is the reason I started this whole thing. Another green year would help make the decision, but we don’t have that information. He was 2 standing points away from starting his career with two dark green ranks. He’s 27 with years in front of him. Go get the man. Not sure if he’s actually worth the 16th overall, but he’s the best bet on the list who is available.”

Very lofty praise. The 16th overall comment came from a rumor that Glen Sather was holding onto Talbot for a first round pick. Playing hard ball. Luckily, Peter Chiarelli did not flinch in this trade.

Cam Talbot was acquired with a 7th round pick in 2016 (more on that in a bit!) for a 2nd round draft pick, a 3rd round draft pick and a 7th round draft pick all in 2016. Basically, swap the 7s and you have Cam Talbot for a second rounder and a third rounder.

In a deep draft year, it was a bit concerning seeing Peter Chiarelli handing draft picks like candy, but they were an attractive asset. The second round pick was not the Oilers original one (that was traded to the Islanders and then Tampa Bay for Griffin Reinhart) but for the pick acquired for Jeff Petry.

Also compare the price of Talbot to other goaltenders acquired: Robin Lehner went to Buffalo with David Legwand for a first round pick. Eddie Lack went to Carolina for a third and a seventh round pick in 2016. Talbot had better stats than both of them leading up to the draft. Martin Jones went for a first round pick to the San Jose Sharks.

My reaction to acquiring the goaltender I wanted all along:

Reaction on Twitter:

Just saw the trade sending Cam Talbot to the Oilers – a solid goaltender like him could do wonder for that team.

— 👻 (@ericrileyy) June 27, 2015

I'll be doing my research on the Lightning picks today and filling you guys in! Also, unrealted; I loved that Cam Talbot trade to Edmonton.

— The Bolts Report (@TheBoltsReport) June 27, 2015

Hagelin was a great trade for the Rangers, Cam Talbot not so much.

— Brian (@b_nichols23) June 27, 2015

(that last tweet was a good call: Etem would be dealt to Vancouver mid season, while Hagelin would end up going to Pittsburgh for David Perron).

Why was Talbot Traded?

Filling in for an injured Henrik Lundqvist, Cam Talbot actually put up better numbers than the mighty King himself. In 36 games played, Talbot sported a 0.926 save percentage. It was a small sample size but with only one year left on his contract, The Rangers were potentially going to lose Cam Talbot for nothing. It was a case of selling while Talbot’s value was high: he had a good season with the Rangers. He had another year on his contract vs being a pending UFA. The Rangers would most likely have a cap situation coming up in the summer of 2016. The time to strike was now and to be frank, it was a buyers market. There was no way the New York Rangers were going to trade Henrik Lundqvist away for a variety of factors (contract, status symbol in New York, being the best player for the Rangers). Talbot was still unproven at this point. The 36 games were the most that he had played thus far in his NHL career.

Talbot This Season

Unfortunately, by November it looked like Cam Talbot was not the answer. His starting position was overtaken by Anders Nilsson. His save percentage was in familiar territory. Not only that, there were some painful losses: the one that stood out for me was the Halloween game where he let in an awful stinker of a goal in the dying seconds of the game against the hated Calgary Flames. It was a horrible start for Talbot.

However, then this happened:

Did You Know? #Oilers Cam Talbot has the NHL's best Save % since December 18th at .930

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) March 7, 2016

Cam Talbot = @NHL's First Star of the Week! ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/NFIdUmSFN7

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 7, 2016

Since December, Cam Talbot has been unquestionably the team’s MVP (okay, maybe not including that Connor McDavid guy). How good has Talbot been? Here is his stat line compared to the other goalies traded around the draft (stats taken from hockeydb.com)

From that table, Jones has played more games on a better San Jose Sharks team, while Lehner has battled injuries. Lack splits time with Cam Ward but posts mediocre numbers. Of the goalies, only Eddie Lack is below the league average for save percentage (league average is 0.916% according to NHL.com). If Talbot had a better start this season, it’s not hard to imagine that he would have had a better stat line. This is including playing a defence that featured Justin Schultz, Nikita Nikitin and Brad Hunt all at some point in time.

Talbot was also awarded a three year contract extension in January where he will earn 4.17 million a season.

Final Grade

Considering the price compared to the other goalies acquired in June to Talbot’s production and eventual contract extension, Talbot has played magnificent from December on wards. My final grade for this move is an A-. It’s not a full A because of Talbot’s slow start to the season, which does concern me: is Talbot a usual slow starter or was this just a bump in the road? Regardless, Cam Talbot has been the best Edmonton Oiler not named Connor McDavid.