New Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot has played for eight NHL teams, but the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan reports that the Wings’ new goalie hopes to have found a home in Detroit:
“I seem to be a part of it every summer,” Talbot said of the free agent frenzy during a Zoom call with media on Tuesday. “You never really get used to it, especially with kids and family now. There’s a lot more to think about — situations, term, length, all of that stuff. But Detroit checked a lot of boxes for me.”
Talbot, 36, is joining his fourth team in four years (the Wings are his eighth team overall) so the security of a second year was huge. Secondly, his wife grew up in the Detroit area until her teen years, so having family in the area was nice.
“We’ve never had that with any of the teams I’ve been part of,” Talbot said. “And my family is a four-hour drive away (in Caledonia, Ontario), so all these things kind of factored in. It all seemed to work out and we couldn’t be happier.”
Talbot played in 54 games with the Kings this past season, going 27-20-6 with a 2.50 goals-against average and .913 save percentage. He struggled in three playoff appearances, though, going 1-2 with a 5.30 GAA and .861 SVS as the Kings were eliminated in five games in the first round by Edmonton.
“I thought I played pretty well,” Talbot said of his season. “It was kind of healthy competition (with goaltender David Rittich) to start the season. I started the season strong, got the All-Star nod in January and a little dip like the rest of the team there getting into February, but I finished strong again. I just wanted to go in there and wanted to prove after a down year in Ottawa that I could still be the guy and I was able to do that.”
Continued (with comments from Erik Gustafsson as well)
