The Ottawa Senators’ crease is going to look quite different next season.
One day after dealing their highest-paid goaltender to a divisional rival, the Senators welcomed in a new veteran puck-stopper to take his place, acquiring Cam Talbot from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Filip Gustavsson.
Talbot, who just recently celebrated his 35th birthday, is under contract for one more season at a cap hit of $3.666 million. The Ontario native is coming off a decent campaign in 2021-22, during which he posted a 32-12-4 record with four shutouts and a .911 save percentage.
Talbot’s days in Minnesota appeared to be numbered as soon as Marc-Andre Fleury entered the fold at the 2022 trade deadline. Despite opening the season as the starter, once the Wild acquired the reigning Vezina winner, Talbot relinquished his job almost immediately and was reportedly upset after GM Bill Guerin signed Fleury to a two-year contract extension during last week’s draft.
Now, Talbot heads to a Senators team that is in the process of acquiring real talent to make a run in the Atlantic Division next season. He’ll still need to fight for the starter’s job, as Anton Forsberg emerged as the team’s most dependable netminder last season and earned a three-year contract extension for his troubles, but his addition gives coach DJ Smith some incredible depth in net to work with.
Going the other way is Gustavsson, a 24-year-old with just 27 games of NHL experience under his belt. Gustavsson struggled with his first real taste of big-league action last season, finishing with a 5-12-1 record and a .892 save percentage, but seemingly has some intriguing tools and enough developmental runway left upon which to grow them.
The move now clears a little under $3 million off the Wild’s cap ahead of free agent frenzy.
Buckle up, folks. The action is far from over.
