Bleacher Report’s Joe Yerdon ranks every NHL team’s goaltending tandems ahead of the 2025-2026 regular season, and…
The Red Wings rank in the middle of the pack?
18. Detroit Red Wings
John Gibson and Cam Talbot
Detroit got solid goaltending from Cam Talbot last season but were let down by the rest of the group that featured Alex Lyon, Ville Husso and Petr Mrázek as well as injuries. Adding John Gibson from Anaheim to be the No. 1 while Talbot slides into the backup role, on paper, gives the Red Wings much better overall goaltending.
Yes, injuries will need to be kept to a minimum, especially for Gibson, but when he was in the lineup for the Ducks, he was outstanding. Having Gibson, Talbot and Sebastian Cossa in the AHL gives Detroit a lot of depth. It’s just hard to ignore the injury history with Gibson and how overall inconsistent play has been for the Red Wings the past few years. If Gibson can settle everything down, maybe their playoff drought won’t hit double figures.
Continued; that’s really a very fair ranking. Gibson has to have something of a bounce-back season injury-wise for the Red Wings’ goaltending to really shine, and he’s going to need Cam Talbot’s help as the Wings will tend to work off the tandem model…
And Cossa should get at least a couple “cup of coffee” call-ups this upcoming season. I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Michal Postava saw time in Detroit’s crease on an emergency basis, either.
Overall, there are questions about Gibson’s health and consistency, there are questions about Talbot’s age (38) and consistency, and Cossa’s got pressure upon his shoulders to shine when he gets a chance to impress. 18 out of 32 seems about right.
Interesting rating because The Hockey Guy (a podcast on YouTube) just ranked all 32 goalie tandems using his set of metrics and the red wings ranked 4th. Quite the difference!