The rumors and speculation started Wednesday night that the Philadelphia Flyers were interested in Edmonton Oilers goalie Cam Talbot. Late Friday night the reports came to fruition as Philly acquired Talbot and in return, sent Anthony Stolarz to Edmonton.
The Flyers have known for a while now that Carter Hart was going to be their starter next season, but it was the backup / 1B role that the team had to figure out. Talbot, who is an unrestricted free agent July 1st, will still need to prove that he’s the best option for the spot, but general manager Chuck Fletcher is clearly giving him the inside track.
Hart and Talbot train together in the offseason and Hart called the veteran the night before his first NHL game to talk pre-game jitters so there’s already off-ice chemistry that doesn’t need building. It’s the on-ice performance that will be crucial.
Lately, on-ice performance hasn’t been impressive for Talbot. After a great season as Henrik Lundqvist’s backup in New York, the 31-year-old had two good seasons in Edmonton carrying a .917 and .919 save percentage in 2015-16 and 2016-17. In the two seasons since, Talbot has a combined .903 save percentage.
But there’s plenty of reason to believe things can turn around. Edmonton can be a poisonous place for a lot of players and the Oilers ran Talbot into the ground in 2016-17, playing him 73 games. He’ll never see close to those numbers with Hart sharing a crease.
In fact, the Ontario native will see closer to the minutes he played in New York where he excelled. Although, the Flyers might expect 30 to 40 games from next year’s backup in case of any issues from Hart in continuing to adjust to the NHL.
The Flyers did not automatically extend Talbot to an extension so there’s always the chance that if he doesn’t look like the right fit, the team can move on. However, that might make trading Stolarz in the deal hurt even more.
Stolarz is the much younger of the two goalies traded at 25 years old and has had some strong NHL games, albeit in just 19 contests. But there’s also a chance he hits UFA status this summer:
Anthony Stolarz, who was just acquired by the #Oilers, is a pending Group 6 UFA
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) February 16, 2019
As a 25 y.o G with 3 or more accrued seasons, he must play 28 games (30m ice time or more) to avoid UFA status and remain an RFA. He has now accrued 18 games and requires 10 more to avoid UFA status https://t.co/PU4d4Cggaj
Although Stolarz has rebounded nicely after missing a whole calendar year, I was never confident he could be Hart’s backup next season — and it seems like Fletcher felt the same way. If the team wanted to re-sign Stolarz to be the Lehigh Valley Phantoms’ starter, he likely would have walked anyways.
But most Flyers fans would have rather seen Brian Elliott included in this trade or another asset returned to Philly. There’s a point to be made there given Stolarz’s age, but if Talbot becomes a reliable 1B for Hart, then no one will look back at this trade in disfavor.
And that brings up another point: what do the Flyers do with Elliott now? When he returns from his conditioning assignment, the team will be over the roster limit and have four goalies, including Mike McKenna. Philly might still explore his trade value or waive him.
For now, the biggest task will be seeing how Talbot can fit as a long-term option.