Minnesota Wild: Is Cam Talbot the answer in goal?

Only time will tell if the Minnesota Wild got it right with Cam Talbot

Cam Talbot has signed a three-year contract with the Minnesota Wild. The 33-year-old will make $11 million over the duration of the contract, and he will join Alex Stalock in Minnesota’s goalie room.

There is little question that this is an upgrade for the Wild, who traded Devan Dubnyk to the San Jose Sharks this offseason. Dubnyk, who played in 30 regular-season games last year for the Wild, recorded a 3.35 goals against average (GAA) and .890 save percentage. Talbot posted a 2.63 GAA and .919 save percentage in 26 regular-season games for the Calgary Flames.

Clearly, Talbot is coming off of a better season, but was he the best fit for Minnesota? The talk of the offseason has been the stacked goalie market, yet Talbot was not one of the available netminders that many had in mind as a bonified starter.

Cam Talbot was a surprising decision by the Minnesota Wild

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Braden Holtby, formerly of the Washington Capitals, has won a Stanley Cup, and though his 2019-2020 campaign was underwhelming, he was a top option. Jacob Markstrom of the Vancouver Canucks was also at the top of the list after an impressive playoff run in the 2020 postseason.

Holtby, who has been a very steady starting goalie, would have been a better fit for the Wild, and he signed with Vancouver for $4.3 million per year, less than $1 million more than Talbot. That tells me that Minnesota would not have had to break the bank for a top goalie.

In addition, the Wild have a complete team in terms of players under contract. With 12 forwards, seven defensemen, and now two goalies signed, the Wild could field a team immediately. In other words, the $4.8 million in cap space could have contributed to a slightly larger contract for someone like Holtby or Markstrom without putting the Wild in a bad spot.

Another possible option for the Wild could have been Marc-Andre Fleury of the Vegas Golden Knights. At $7 million for the next two years and at 35 years of age, Fleury is perhaps riskier, but he is also more proven for a Wild team that needs to win now if it is capable of doing so.

Minnesota is an odd team to me in the sense that it seems to be caught somewhere between a win-now mentality and a rebuild. Whatever the case is, Cam Talbot does not seem to quite fit either mold. Certainly, at age 33, he would not be in the plans for a rebuilding team.

However, if the front office believes it can win this year, it seems strange to answer the goaltending question with a player that has played only 61 regular-season games in the last two seasons and posted a 3.40 GAA and .892 save percentage in 2018-2019. Talbot has struggled at times, but in fairness, he did bounce back last season with the Flames, and his career postseason numbers are not bad.

In the end, the success of this move will come down to whether or not this team is competitive in 2020-2021 and which Talbot the Wild get. If Minnesota gets the good version of him, this will be a great move. If not, this will be a missed opportunity given the other names on the market. If the Wild prove to be irrelevant in the playoff push, it won’t really make a difference.

At the end of the day, this is an upgrade, and there is the potential that Minnesota has found its new starter. It should be noted though that in this free agency class, at a point where if the Wild are going to win it has to be immediate. It might have been better to see the Wild get more of a sure thing.