Once Cam Talbot sorts out his visa issues, the Philadelphia Flyers will soon set an unwanted and dubious NHL record of using eight different netminders in a season. The Flyers traded for the 31-year-old on Feb. 16th when they sent fellow goaltender Anthony Stolarz to the Edmonton Oilers in return. Talbot is in the final year of his contract and is eligible for unrestricted free agency on July 1st. Stolarz is also playing out his contract and the 25-year-old is set to become a restricted free agent in the summer.
The Flyers have already dressed seven goalies so far this season as Michal Neuvirth, Brian Elliott, Mike McKenna, Alex Lyon, Dustin Tokarski, Carter Hart and Stolarz have all spent time between the posts for the team. Elliott and Neuvirth started the season as the top two goaltenders, but then ran into injury problems. They’re both still under contract to the team for the remainder of the season and will then become unrestricted free agents.
Twenty-year-old Carter Hart of Sherwood Park, Alberta has emerged as the team’s top goaltender this year and is expected to hang onto his job even with the addition of Talbot. Hart, who was drafted 48th overall by the Flyers in 2016, had a 13-6-1 record after his first 20 games this season with a 2.55 goals-against average and a 92.4 save percentage. Talbot has appeared in 31 games with the Oilers with a mark of 10-15-3 with a 3.36 GAA and a save percentage of 89.3.
Talbot was expected to be dealt before the NHL’s trade deadline of Feb. 25th as Edmonton recently inked goaltender Mikko Koskinen to a new $13.5 million, three-year contract. Talbot, of Caledonia, Ontario, went undrafted and signed with the New York Rangers as a free agent in 2010. He played for the club in 2013/14 and 2014/15 before being traded to Edmonton. Talbot led the league in games played by a goalie in 2016/17 and again in 2017/18 when he guarded the crease 73 and 67 times respectively.
He’s played 284 regular-season games in his career with a mark of 137-110-24, a GAA of 2.59, a 91.5 save percentage and 20 shutouts. Talbot’s also 7-7 in 15 career playoff games with a 2.48 GAA, 92.2 save percentage and two shutouts. He led the league in wins in 2016/17 with 42 and his 31 victories in 2017/17 were ranked 10th. He also had a fine season in 2014/15 as he was ranked fourth in both goals-against average and save percentage at 2.21 and 92.6. However, he also led the NHL in losses in 2015/16 and 2017/18 with 27 and 31 respectively.
The 6-foot-6-inch Stolarz was drafted by the Flyers in 2012 with the 45th overall pick. He played in seven games with the team in 2016/17 and in 12 this season. He went 6-4-4 in Philadelphia with a GAA of 2.86 and a save percentage of 91.1 along with two shutouts. He’s now expected to give Koskinen a good battle for the top job in Edmonton. As for the Flyers, they will have given up a good young prospect for a rental player if Talbot decides to leave the team as a free agent at the end of the season.
However, club management may feel it was worth if if the squad makes the playoffs this season. As of Feb. 18th they had just won three games in a row and were 8-1-1 in their past 10 outings, but were still six points behind the final wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Philadelphia also had three teams to overtake, but if they can extend their recent hot streak, anything’s possible.