[News] Talbot: I want to be a starter

[browna]

Originally Posted by Muta

I'd rather have Talbot than Rittich, but I'm sure that's a minority opinion.

Nope not the minority. Rittich does not have the mental side of being a full time NHL goalie down yet. He gets a bit of pass among fans because he’s a character and good for a quote, and he’s a pretty good goalie when he’s on. But emotionally he’s too high and too low, and that’s pretty clear outwardly, nevermind what’s going on behind the scenes.

But both last year and this year he’s come up short as the season dragged on. Smith took over, as vets do, down the stretch. Peters had less patience with him last year, but gave him a lot of chances early this year.

I think the last month or so of the season, Ward played Rittich just so as not to lose him mentally as well, because Talbot was getting some goal support and looking confident. It’s really been all downhill for Rittich since the stick flip, and he wasn’t lighting things on fire before...but he has been pulled how many times, and let in a lot of dubious goals.

And Talbot speaking the truth, his whole goal here this season was to prove his league worth after leaving the tire fire. Sure, the Flames wanted him before, but he was eager to prove that the circus up north in their snap signing of a Koskinen last year which immediately signalled the end of Talbot, was one of the numerous weekly bad decisions made up there...so I don’t think this is news that he wants to start.

I fully expected Talbot to be the guy come playoff time, I thought that early in the year, and certainly since Christmas...he’s been there before, just like Smith.
If I could only choose one of the two for the next year to give the best chance to win, it would be Talbot.

[TheScorpion]

Would you support this tandem?

Lehner - 6 years, $6.5 million AAV
Dell - 2 years, $1.25 million AAV

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Wolf turned 19 yesterday. He's going back to Everett next year.

If Talbot is gone, the Flames will bring someone else to replace him. My best guess would be Aaron Dell. Zagidulin and Parsons will most likely split duties in the A (assuming they can figure out Zag's contract situation).

If Talbot is gone I would like to see for once a full stop at politics and the best goalie in camp get a chance regardless of their name or draft status. Even if it's Wolf you keep him, if he fails you send him down, if he succeeds we have a story!

[btimbit]

It's interesting too because the way things were going he very well could have been the starter by then end of the season

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Would you support this tandem?

Lehner - 6 years, $6.5 million AAV
Dell - 2 years, $1.25 million AAV

No to Dell but Lehner-Rittich would make me jump for joy

[TheScorpion]

I don't think they could afford Rittich if they got Lehner for that price.

[dino7c]

Holtby is terrible...some team is gonna find out the hard way

[1qqaaz]

Rittich has only 90.8% in 115 games, and it's trending downwards.
Talbot put up much better numbers this year, and has much better numbers for his career.

Isn't it too early to give on on Rittich? Probably hold onto him for 1 more year, at least as a backup.

But I agree with those who think the Flames should go all-in on a goalie. They've wasted tons of quality assets on mediocre wild cards.

[djsFlames]

Wished his starts were more frequent than they were.

Hope Cam knows the fans wanted to see him take the net in the second half. The team just defaulted to Rittich in an attempt to get him going, just like they did for Smith the year prior.

I'd like to see him back.

[Jetfire]

Originally Posted by Muta

I'd rather have Talbot than Rittich, but I'm sure that's a minority opinion.

I would agree if he didn't have 5 years on Rittich, and I don't think they're too far apart in ability when healthy. Talbot's not really an old goalie yet, but he's only a couple seasons from being one.

[dissentowner]

Rittich was lights out until he developed a nagging elbow injury and tried to play through it. He didn't just fade down the stretch, he should have not been starting any games until it was healed up.

[Fire]

I agree with Talbot that he didn't get a fair chance at the start of the season. For some reason they were really overplaying Rittich. They could have given about 5 more games to Talbot in the first half of the season.

[Bingo]

Both goalies had their struggles and their hot streaks ... I don't mind them as a tandem because of the duel option, but I worry about either guy with an inexperienced back up as I don't see them as true #1s at this point.

Talbot had better numbers but felt more fortunate to me, or that the team played better in front of him?

His average shot distance is higher. His average goal distance is also higher.

Rittich bested Talbot in high danger shots, but Talbot bested Rittich in both medium and low danger.

Not sure either guy is ready to shoulder the load.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Both goalies had their struggles and their hot streaks ... I don't mind them as a tandem because of the duel option, but I worry about either guy with an inexperienced back up as I don't see them as true #1s at this point.

Talbot had better numbers but felt more fortunate to me, or that the team played better in front of him?

His average shot distance is higher. His average goal distance is also higher.

Rittich bested Talbot in high danger shots, but Talbot bested Rittich in both medium and low danger.

Not sure either guy is ready to shoulder the load.

Interesting as my recollection/interpretation was just the opposite.

But I agree neither guy gives me the warm fuzzies as a #1 at this point and we have a large enough sample size on both to draw conclusions.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

If Talbot is gone I would like to see for once a full stop at politics and the best goalie in camp get a chance regardless of their name or draft status. Even if it's Wolf you keep him, if he fails you send him down, if he succeeds we have a story!

The problem with that is Camp for goalies is really only a very small slice of the story. They can go from World-beaters to hot-garbage real fast once the workload starts to pile on and the season grinds along.

And further, Camp isnt really a very good indicator. The NHL has Camp, then the Pre-season and then the first dozen or so games of the season where everyone is getting into the groove of things.

So he could be awesome in Camp and pre-season and even into the season and still eventually stumble.

Damned goalies and their being so difficult to evaluate and yet so important.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Interesting as my recollection/interpretation was just the opposite.

But I agree neither guy gives me the warm fuzzies as a #1 at this point and we have a large enough sample size on both to draw conclusions.

Had a look at the numbers and it's razor thin.

Rittich xGAA was 2.355
Talbot xGAA was 2.34

so that suggests Talbot had the team play slightly better in front of him, but it also shows why we differ as it was a virtual tie.

[Erick Estrada]

IMO they both make for a great backup goaltender or 1B at best. I'm hoping Treliving goes hard after Markstrom as I don't believe Talbot is going to take you deep into the playoffs and Rittich is so up and down mentally I'm not even sure he could get a team through a 7 game series.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

IMO they both make for a great backup goaltender or 1B at best. I'm hoping Treliving goes hard after Markstrom as I don't believe Talbot is going to take you deep into the playoffs and Rittich is so up and down mentally I'm not even sure he could get a team through a 7 game series.

What makes you think Markstrom is going anywhere? I highly doubt that. Actually you may be right, I forgot about the stupid expansion draft and they will want to protect Demko. That will affect signing him.

[Vinny01]

This year was the first since Kipper (and maybe year 1 of the Hiller/Ramo tandem) that goaltending has not been a concern.

I really like Rittich but not confident that he is a 55-60 game legit number 1. He is getting close. If Talbot doesn’t want to be the guy to push him anymore because he wants more opportunity elsewhere then we replace him.

I am definitely not choosing the 32 year old who has had one very good season as a starter and the rest as a bad starter or good backup.

[MrMike]

I think we had better goaltending last year other than Smith and his awful goal per game in the first half of the season. But me remembering this is probably because our offence was much more high powered and weren’t relying on it as much as this season.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

IMO they both make for a great backup goaltender or 1B at best. I'm hoping Treliving goes hard after Markstrom as I don't believe Talbot is going to take you deep into the playoffs and Rittich is so up and down mentally I'm not even sure he could get a team through a 7 game series.

I agree about Markstrom...he was the best goalie in the NHL this season IMO. Worst case you push the price up on Vancouver.