[Rumour] UPD: Flames sign Cam Talbot (1yr, $2.75mil)

[TheIronMaiden]

It is difficult not to have mixed feelings about this.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

The real problem is that the Flames are already pretty crowded at the position. There is one slot open in the NHL, three goalies who will compete for two spots in Stockton, and then another goalie who will return to Juniour. There is really only room to add one more, and selecting yet another minor league goalie to compete with your other three minor league goalies doesn't strike me as a great idea at all.

Two slots open in the NHL. Flames have no NHL goalies signed and while it seems entirely likely they will re-sign Rittich, they haven’t yet. If it wasn’t for the cap constraints the team is dealing with, I would not have been shocked by a true #1 with a discount backup. The fact that no salary has been moved out to date makes this scenario entirely unlikely now though.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Two slots open in the NHL. Flames have no NHL goalies signed and while it seems entirely likely they will re-sign Rittich, they haven’t yet. If it wasn’t for the cap constraints the team is dealing with, I would not have been shocked by a true #1 with a discount backup. The fact that no salary has been moved out to date makes this scenario entirely unlikely now though.

ONE. The Flames are not letting Rittich walk away.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

It is difficult not to have mixed feelings about this.

I’m in the same boat.

I like that he’ll come for a short term and a low $ and be motivated to get his career back on track. Players almost always perform better post-Edmonton. He won’t be responsible for the #1 but will have opportunity to compete for it. It will also be a major trolling of the Oilers and imagine if he plays like he did in 2017.

Or he might be No Good.

[Icon]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Or he might be No Good.

And while that would suck if we go after him instead of another option:
- there may not be anything better available/affordable
- at least it's (likely) only for a year
- hopefully it's still a 1A/1B setup at worst with Rittich or someone like him and whoever that is does ok. (If we go Talbot as 1 and Gilles as 2 that's a different story)

I'm thinking unless we're looking at a trade, that Talbot's a better option than going Rittich & Gilles.

I'm not sure if he's a better option than going Rittich & Smith again, but maybe the potential for Talbot to turn it around is a higher likelihood than Smith playing like he did the 2nd half of last season again? I'm not sure on that. Could be a moot point if Smith has no interest in coming back.

Still hoping for a trade instead though.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

I’m in the same boat.

I like that he’ll come for a short term and a low $ and be motivated to get his career back on track. Players almost always perform better post-Edmonton. He won’t be responsible for the #1 but will have opportunity to compete for it. It will also be a major trolling of the Oilers and imagine if he plays like he did in 2017.

Or he might be No Good.

My fear is that goalies have the habit of getting lit up by their old team. That said, whose to say he will play more than 30 games. The Flames have painted themselves into a corner of bargain bin shopping for goalies. One can only hope one of the prospects comes and saves us.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

I’m in the same boat.

I like that he’ll come for a short term and a low $ and be motivated to get his career back on track. Players almost always perform better post-Edmonton. He won’t be responsible for the #1 but will have opportunity to compete for it. It will also be a major trolling of the Oilers and imagine if he plays like he did in 2017.

Or he might be No Good.

Think about it like this: Cam Talbot was about as bad as Mike Smith was last year. The difference between them is that Smith won 23 games while Talbot won 11. Even if he is not much better than he was last year, he will still get better results with a substantially better team in front of him.

[djsFlames]

Talbot probably doesn't factor into the long term (>3 seasons)
but he could have a very good 2 years if that's indeed the term here. He's in that goalie prime now. And plenty, plenty of goalies are difference makers until 35 in the league and even escalate their games for career seasons into their thirties.

The question I guess is, was the time in NY and the first 1.5 seasons with the Oil the "norm" for him without distractions and overuse impeding his ability to perform, and a level he can return to if said distractions are removed?

Really hard to say.

This might be a case where the move to get the best hockey out of him is a 1 year cheap deal where he has all the motivation in the world (better contract, stay in the league, stick it to the Oil). You might lose him after it, but you'll get probably some strong goaltending for this upcoming season.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

My fear is that goalies have the habit of getting lit up by their old team...

Do they actually? I honestly don't know, but my suspicion is that it happens about as often as it doesn't.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Do they actually? I honestly don't know, but my suspicion is that it happens about as often as it doesn't.

Oh yeah, this is a narrative based conclusion for sure. It just feels that way man...

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Do they actually? I honestly don't know, but my suspicion is that it happens about as often as it doesn't.

Well I mean, Mike Smith vs the Coyotes was about as sure a bet for a strong performance as you could make with him.

Plenty of ex Flames goalies had huge games against us that I can recall too.

[getbak]

Remember when Dubnyk went to Arizona and beat the Oilers three times early in the season, then got traded to Minnesota and beat them another two times late in the season? They finally beat him in their 6th try that season.

He ended with a 5-1-0 record with a .960 SV% and 0.99 GAA against the Oilers that season. Overall, he has a 9-4-0 record with a .932 SV% and 1.71 GAA in 13 starts against the Oilers.



Mike Smith had a 4-2-0 record against Arizona while with the Flames. Elliott went 2-0-0 against St Louis.

[Hey Connor, It's Mess]

Too many bad (and recent) memories of him in an Oilers uniform. Particularly his patented early-game softies.

[mrdonkey]

Originally Posted by Hey Connor, It's Mess

Too many bad (and recent) memories of him in an Oilers uniform. Particularly his patented early-game softies.

After Hiller, Smith and Elliott aren’t we already used to this?

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by getbak

Remember when Dubnyk went to Arizona and beat the Oilers three times early in the season, then got traded to Minnesota and beat them another two times late in the season? They finally beat him in their 6th try that season.

He ended with a 5-1-0 record with a .960 SV% and 0.99 GAA against the Oilers that season. Overall, he has a 9-4-0 record with a .932 SV% and 1.71 GAA in 13 starts against the Oilers.



Mike Smith had a 4-2-0 record against Arizona while with the Flames. Elliott went 2-0-0 against St Louis.

If Talbot signs in Calgary and Smith in Edmonton, the resulting first game could trigger the collapse of space-time.

[getbak]

I forgot to look up Talbot's numbers against the Rangers...

Not so good. He lost his first 4 games against the Rangers, finally beating them on his fifth try.

Of course, he was playing behind the Oilers, so that's a handicap right there.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

The real problem is that the Flames are already pretty crowded at the position. There is one slot open in the NHL, three goalies who will compete for two spots in Stockton, and then another goalie who will return to Juniour. There is really only room to add one more, and selecting yet another minor league goalie to compete with your other three minor league goalies doesn't strike me as a great idea at all.

The problem within that problem is that the couple minor league goaltenders we currently have in the system have been extremely underwhelming. Gillies has a 1 way contract next season and nobody in management or the fanbase seems to be confident in him. Same goes for McDonald but with even less confidence. Doesn’t seem like we’ve drafted goaltenders well at all over the last decade+. Parsons is still on the fence and has maybe the most upside. But in general, goaltending has not been a strong suit for the Flames franchise outside of Miikka Kiprusoff and Mike Vernon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

The problem within that problem is that the couple minor league goaltenders we currently have in the system have been extremely underwhelming. Gillies has a 1 way contract next season and nobody in management or the fanbase seems to be confident in him. Same goes for McDonald but with even less confidence. Doesn’t seem like we’ve drafted goaltenders well at all over the last decade+. Parsons is still on the fence and has maybe the most upside. But in general, goaltending has not been a strong suit for the Flames franchise outside of Miikka Kiprusoff and Mike Vernon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did not even include Gillies or McDonald in my list. I don't expect McDonald to be qualified, and I think Gillies will likely be moved. But supposing the Flames do retain Gillies, the position would break down as follows:

NHL: Rittich
AHL: Gillies, Parsons, Zagidulin
ECHL(?): Schneider
Juniour: Wolf

The problems the Flames have had drafting and developing goalies is most likely a moot point moving forward since there is not much to be done about it now, so the real problem is finding places for everyone to play while also ensuring that the NHL team is successful.

[Stauner]

I like it.

Calgary are an elite team and Talbot is a good goalie. On paper this looks like a very good deal.

[Timbo]

Cam Talbot, I’m okay with it. Which scares the hell out of me as I am usually wrong.