Speculation has begun to swirl around the Philadelphia Flyers being a possible destination for the six year NHL net-minder, which begs to ask if it’d be a good fit for the team moving forward.
With the 2019 NHL Trade Deadline less than two weeks away, speculation around what the Philadelphia Flyers will decide to do have already begun to run rampant. From whether or not they’ll keep upcoming Unrestricted Free Agent Wayne Simmonds to other question marks around the future of Michael Raffl and Radko Gudas, it’s obvious General Manager Chuck Fletcher will have plenty of decisions to make leading up to the February 25th deadline.
Selling might not be the only thing Fletcher does, though, with plenty of names out there that could not only help the Flyers now, but for the future as well. One of those names that’s been thrown around is that of Cam Talbot. The Hockey Central panel on Sportsnet recently brought up the idea of the Flyers and Edmonton Oilers making some type of swap between Talbot and Brian Elliott, which wouldn’t be a bad move to make on Fletcher’s part.
The Oilers want to create space to get Andrej Sekera back in the lineup, and might move Talbot to do so. The panel mentioned the current, long-time friendship between Talbot and Carter Hart, too, also noting how Hart needs a good mentor behind him to help aid in his development. I do agree with the notion of Hart needing some sort of veteran to “look up” to, for lack of a better term, but my question is if Talbot is actually a better backup option than Anthony Stolarz or even Elliott at this point.
Talbot’s struggled mightily this season, posting a 3.36 Goals-Against Average and a .893 save percentage in 31 games for Edmonton this year. His career numbers are fine, but you have to wonder if age is starting to catch-up with the 31 going on 32 year-old veteran. His stats, with the exception of the 2016-17 season, have declined in each year he’s played in the NHL. That’s not something you want to see out of a guy you are potentially giving up assets to acquire, which is why I wouldn’t make a move to bring him in if I were Fletcher.
I think his struggles on the ice would out-weight the mentorship he’d bring to the team. If Hart and he didn’t have such close relationship, I’d doubt the Flyers would have any interest in bringing him in and while having a good presence in the locker room is almost always a plus for any team, getting good performances on-the-ice is a bit more important. Sure, Talbot could end up bouncing back with a change of scenery, but I’d personally rather see what they have in Stolarz.
Whatever Fletcher decides to do, he’ll be very active on the phones up until the deadline passes. The Trade Deadline is on February 25th at 3pm EST.