Washington Capitals should pursue Cam Talbot to fill a huge need
The Washington Capitals should pursue Cam Talbot in free agency.
The Washington Capitals will be looking to add a veteran goaltender with Braden Holtby set to test the free agency market and likely sign with another team. One of their options available on the market will be Cam Talbot.
Talbot is a former New York Rangers and Edmonton Oilers netminder and he’s one of if not the best options on the market. There are other guys that are better but they may likely want a starting netminder job and command too much money.
Talbot carried a cap hit of $2.750 million. That’s not too expensive and the Caps won’t have a lot of money to spend this offseason. He’s 33 years old so it’s doubtful he’ll get a raise or a long term deal.
More from Free Agency
- Grading the Max Pacioretty acquisition
- Top 3 forwards the Capitals should sign in free agency
- Have The Capitals Had A Bad Offseason So Far?
- Adding Alex DeBrincat via free agency would improve team speed
- Martin Fehervary needs to be re-signed by Capitals
Talbot has also proven he can excel in a backup role. He burst onto the scene with the New York Rangers where his career began. He played in 21 games his first season and went 19-12-6 with a 1.64 goals against average and a .941 save percentage. The next season he played in 36 games and went 21-9-4 with a 2.21 goals against average and a .926 save percentage.
Talbot’s performance in New York gave him the chance to be a starter with the Edmonton Oilers. He continued to flourish. In his first season he played in 56 games and went 21-27-5 with a 2.54 goals against average and a .917 save percentage. The next season he played in 73 games and went 42-22-8 with a 2.39 goals against average and a .919 save percentage. His 42 wins led the league.
The next two seasons were not good. His goals against average went over three and his save percentages were either just over 90 percent or under that. In Calgary this past season, Talbot bounced back.
He went 12-10-1 with a with a 2.63 goals against average and a .919 save percentage in 26 games played. If he can come to the Caps and have similar numbers he would be a huge asset to the team.
Talbot can also serve as a good mentor to Ilya Samsonov, who will likely get the starter’s role after the solid rookie season that he had. He won’t be too expensive and he’ll be a good backup. He’s proven it with both his NHL experience and his playoff experience. He should be able to help the young Samsonov.
More. Washington Capitals: 3 ways to get better with team in NHL 20. light
Free agency will begin on October 9th and it should be a big day for Caps fans and hockey fans everywhere.