New York Rangers goaltender Cam Talbot is 27 years old and has just 57 career NHL games to his name. Sure, he’s posted a terrific .931 SV% in those games but there have only been 57 of them. That’s less than one season’s worth of a workload for most starters. To put that in perspective, Mike Smith posted a .930 SV% in 67 games during the 2011-12 season, later cashing in on his efforts with a six-year, $34 million contract. He’s been one of worst starters in the NHL since, compiling a .910 SV% over the past three years. Goalies are notoriously unpredictable and NHL history is littered with netminders who had one outstanding season in an otherwise short and unremarkable career.
The point I’m getting to here is that this is objectively ridiculous:
Re: Talbot offers – Told Florida’s package does not include their 1st round pick (No. 11). The 1st on table is believed to be from SJ. #TSN
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 26, 2015
Even an early 2nd round pick for Talbot would be pushing it given his complete lack of a track record and the flooded nature of the goaltending market; goalies from Devan Dubnyk to Michal Neuvirth to Karri Ramo to Thomas Greiss to, yes, Antti Niemi are all available in unrestricted free agency next week and cost no assets beyond cap space to obtain. Talbot’s numbers shouldn’t be entirely discounted but the extremely small sample size over which he’s posted them and his lack of elite play at other levels prior to his NHL debut don’t seem to strongly suggest he’s a better bet to be a above-average starter than someone like Neuvirth or Dubnyk.
And those guys cost nothing to acquire. Offering a top-ten pick in the best draft of the past decade for a 27-year-old who has never been a starting goaltender and is one year away from unrestricted free agency is unconscionable. Granted, it’s unclear whether the first on the table is the 9th overall pick or next year’s first rounder but, either way, it’s an overpayment for Talbot. Swapping first rounders with the Rangers, who own the 27th pick, would also be an overpayment for Talbot.
Hopefully this report is in error or there are other Rangers players (good ones, not Kevin Klein) involved. If not, along with the rumored Kevin Bieksa trade that would reportedly cost the Sharks two second rounders and see them sign him to an extension in the 4-year, $16 million range, it’s shaping up to be a potentially disastrous draft day for Doug Wilson and the Sharks.
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