The Minnesota Wild might have a solid one-two punch in net again next season.
But it seems Cam Talbot is less than enthused about the possibility of sharing goaltending duties with Marc-Andre Fleury again.
Or is he?
The 35-year-old veteran who has compiled a 51-20-9 mark through two years in Minnesota , might not be keyed on sharing the goaltending duties with Marc-Andre Fleury, after the latter agreed to a two-year extension with the Wild on Thursday.
Afternoon Judd: Here’s why Cam Talbot is likely done with the #mnwild
— SKOR North (@SKORNorth) July 8, 2022
Sponsored by Equity Partners. pic.twitter.com/3Pjozsiem9
He was the No. 1 goalie throughout the majority of last season until the trade deadline in late March when the Wild got Fleury from Chicago and moved Kaapo Kahkonen to San Jose in a corresponding move.
Talbot and Fleury rotated starts throughout the majority of the remaining regular season schedule and it seemed to work nearly perfectly. But the latter got the nod for the first-round playoff series against St. Louis. The future Hall of Famer started the first five games in net before Talbot was placed in net for the Blues’ series-clinching win in Game 6.
Talbot said all the right things throughout the final stages of the season but he revealed his feelings of his status as a second option in the postseason during an end-of-year media session.
“Obviously, was I disappointed? Yeah. Pissed off? Yeah,” Talbot said at the time. “ But they expected that. They want you to be pissed off. I mean, who doesn’t want to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs? But I respected the decision, of course.”
Any feelings of resentment appears to have been rekindled with the Wild’s decision with Fleury this week.
Talbot’s agent, George Balzos reportedly had a conversation with Wild general manager Bill Guerin during the NHL Entry Draft on Friday, and The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun quoted Bazos afterward saying that Guerin had, “ a lot to think about” in regards to his client’s future with Minnesota.
That led to a emphathic response from Guerin, as reported by The Athletic’s Michael Russo.
Guerin: “I don’t have shit to do. Cam Talbot’s under contract. George can say whatever the hell he wants. My team’s set right now, and that’s the way it goes. We can have all the discussions we want. Cam’s a member of our team. We really like Cam. All we’re trying to do is win” https://t.co/F1CNuUH8je
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) July 8, 2022
Talbot is under contract with the Wild for this season, but it is understandable if he would rather be on another team’s roster. Guerin won a Stanley Cup title alongside Fleury in 2009 when the two were teammates in Pittsburgh, and there is a bond there. I
Guerin says the Wild want Talbot to remain part of the mix, but you wonder if he, and the franchise’s upper management really has a lot of confidence in the goalie even though he did not have a regulation loss in his final 16 starts of the regular season.
. If that is the case, it seems like a no-brainer decision to move him. There would be more few teams that would be a viable trade partner – with Toronto and Edmonton perhaps at the front of the line.
Russo tweeted however that Talbot’s might not necessarily want to leave Minnesota but rather get some sign of commitment from the team toward him.
A lot of people are interpreting Bazos' quote solely as Talbot wants to be traded (Talbot indicated otherwise after the season). I'm getting the impression from team sources that Talbot wants a raise by way of an extension. He makes $3 million this year vs. Fleury's $3.5 million https://t.co/zK6XdLyKZz
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) July 8, 2022
This was already going to be an offseason of transition for the salary cap-strapped Wild, who made the move a few weeks ago to trade forward Kevin Fiala to the Los Angeles Kings.
And while Fiala won’t be the only lineup change heading into next year, few predicted that Talbot might potentially be included among the team’s net losses from the 2021-22 campaign?