Edmonton Oilers Players in Review: Cam Talbot

Yesterday, editor Sammi Silber reviewed Taylor Hall and writer Ryan Hunter just reviewed Benoit Pouliot. Today, I’ll give it a shot with one of our new additions to the Roster: Cam Talbot .

Potential

Potential is a scary word for Edmonton Oilers fans. We can only buy so much into potential…..after all these past nine years there has been “potential” but little results. Potential is anticipation for a payout and lets be brutally honest: there has not been much payout with the team.

That said, there is some potential with Cam Talbot. Talbot recently just turned 28 years old, fitting nicely in that prime age category. He is not just some kid on the block. However, he is rather untested, which is why there are some skeptics. It is important to compare Talbot to his predecessors from the season prior. Ben Scrivens had some great numbers with the Los Angeles Kings and had a season to forget last year in Edmonton. Likewise, Viktor Fasth had respectable numbers in a lockout shortened season with the Anaheim Ducks but like Scrivens, he had a poor season riddled with mediocre play and injuries. Both Scrivens and Fasth shown that they were not starting goaltenders. Fasth recently signed with SKA Moscow in the KHL, effectively spelling the end of his NHL career, while Scrivens will be fighting for his NHL life with the recent addition of Anders Nilsson .

While there is a sense of pessimistic expectations, I feel that Talbot has the potential to be that starting goalie. In fact, I was on board the Cam Talbot train for months and figured he would be the best acquisition for the Oilers to make in regards to goaltending. Considering the cost for Cam Talbot ( along with a seventh round draft pick in 2015 for a 2015 second round draft pick, a 2015 third round draft pick and a 2015 seventh round draft pick) was a steal in my eyes.

Performance

Now I am the first to admit I am not a huge math person. Cam Talbot came into his own last year after a freak injury to star goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist. filling in valiantly and leading the New York Rangers towards a precious playoff berth. He did not come as a surprise to his fellow teammates .

His stat line for the season:

36 GP: 21 W 9L 4OTL 2.21 GAA 0.926 Save Percentage and 5 Shutouts

Projections

This is where it gets fun. Darcy Mcleod of BecauseOilers.blogspot.ca wrote two great pieces on Cam Talbot. I will keep it brief:

One was his compariables with adjusted save percentage and minutes. Cam Talbot had stellar numbers in the limited amount of time that he played, comparing strongly to Corey Schneider of the New Jersey Devils. Using the past three years for 5v5 Adjusted Save Percentage, Darcy concluded that Talbot ranked an amazing 4th out of the 65 goalies he listed. That’s fantastic guys.

The next part Mcleod dispelled was the “godly” Rangers defence. It turned out, the Rangers defence was actually middle of the pack giving up high quality chances.

Projections

For my personal projection: Cam Talbot is the number one goalie for the Edmonton Oilers. People might think there is a contest, but there is not. I also am very optimistic that he will preform very well with the Oilers, despite the still shaky defence and the small sample size of games he provides.

I predict he plays 50-55 Games and gives us a .910 Save Percentage. Might seem average, but comparing to Scrivens and Fasth, anything north of .900 would be outstanding.

Next: Edmonton Oilers Players in Review: Benoit Pouliot

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