Given what this team accomplished in the regular season with Smith, I'm pretty excited about what this tandem could do. I'm sure we don't forget how awful he was on the easiest of chances - and if Talbot shows the same propensity to make the game far more difficult, we'll be back at this next year.
But I developed a ton of confidence in Rittich last year. As much as the Flames offence and stifling defence played a huge role last year, Rittich was a big reason the Flames had a chance last year. Without his stability in net the entire year would have unraveled at Smith's feet. Giving him the net this year is well-earned, and I'm glad the Flames are going with it. There were few games I'd have laid at Rittich's feet, so I don't know how much more someone like Lehner could bring to this team.
Talbot, however, has all potential to steal some games himself. His downfall was predicted and understandable. I don't put much weight on his year last year, as I think he didn't have much left in the tank before the season began. It has to be tough to carry a team one year, know you carried the team... and watch that team roll out the same garbage next year expecting you and Connor to do it again. All the while talking about how great this team is, while you get lit up nightly. He was relied on to make gigantic saves night in and night out. He pulled it off for a year, but a repeat was too much. As a 1B here, the potential for Talbot to go on a run himself is pretty exciting.
We hopefully will be in a situation this year where we're talking often about "when goalie X gets an opportunity to win the net back", and considering the talk of relationships so early here - this could be a fun year of back-and-forth between these goalie teammates.
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