Acquired from the Minnesota Wild by the Ottawa Senators this week, Cam Talbot intends to prove his new team entirely right who took a chance with him.
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The goalkeeper will have the mandate to lead the young “Sens” to success during the next season. General manager Pierre Dorion has not remained seated on his two hands by getting his hands on Alex DeBrincat, Claude Giroux and Talbot in the past few days. For the third of these, the mission is interesting, especially since Ottawa now has more assets to reap victories.
However, the pressure may well be felt. In the federal capital, fans were scalded by the see-saw performances of the club's goaltenders, in particular Matt Murray, who was transferred to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Certainly, the organization's new right-hand man has presented fine statistics in 2021-2022, by virtue of a record of 32-12-4, a goals-against-average of 2.77 and a rate efficiency of .911. Except that at 35, can he still give a lot on the ice? The veteran thinks so, he who established a personal best with 73 games in 2016-2017 with the Edmonton Oilers and who risked spending time on the bench next year because of the return of Marc-André Fleury to the Minnesota.
"I can still play around 50-55 games a year and that's what I will fight for. On the other hand, you never know how a season will unfold. I want the net as often as possible,” he said during a press briefing on Thursday.
Help young people
With his new roster, Talbot will be able to see the progress of some talented youngsters like Brady Tkachuk and Thomas Chabot up close. He is confident that he can inspire confidence in them in different ways, because according to him, there is no magic recipe for developing well.
“I played with several guys [in the league]. I saw them take charge inside the locker room and stay in control. Also, I think I can bring a lot of leadership on the ice and outside thanks to experience, work ethic and everything you can enumerate.
“They have such a good core of young people that they have drafted and developed in the last few years. [...] With the changes made by Pierre, it seems that this group is finally rewarded. He is told that the reconstruction is complete and that a push must be carried out, ”he added to the radio channel TSN 1200.
