Best Oilers goalie that got away is back in Edmonton tonight with Red Wings

Cam Talbot, the best Edmonton Oilers goalie that got away and is still active in professional hockey is back in Edmonton tonight with the Detroit Red Wings.

Talbot, now 38, is part a mediocre tandem in Detroit this year with John Gibson, a player that many Edmonton Oilers fans craved to arrive here in a trade this past summer.

Gibson has played 17 games this year, Talbot 16 games and both have a mediocre .884 save percentage, which is below Stuart Skinner’s .887 in 22 games.

In three of the seven years that Talbot has played in the NHL since the Oilers traded him to Philadelphia in 2019, he’s had a higher save percentage than the top goalie on the Oilers that same year.

Talbot was strong for three seasons in Edmonton. An argument can be made that the Oilers would have been better off simply sticking with Talbot, who had an awful year here in 2018-19 before he was traded partly because that 2018-19 Oilers team itself was awful. Injuries to Andrej Sekera and Oscar Klefbom in the 2017 playoffs significantly diminished them as players and had a massive impact on Edmonton’s defence in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The only Oilers goalie who has been clearly better than Talbot during this time period was Mike Smith in his time here.

The Oilers traded Talbot for Anthony Stolarz, who only played six games here before kicking around then NHL, then having a strong year in Toronto last season, only to stumble out of the gate this year.

Of the other old Oilers goalies still in the NHL, Laurent Brossoit is attempting a comeback after hip surgery. He’s in the AHL and has played two games. Jack Campbell attempted a comeback in the Detroit organization last year, but didn’t cut it and has signed with no other team this year.

Stuart Skinner will start in net for the Oilers tonight for the Red Wings

The reported lines out of practice are:

RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Savoie
Janmark-Henrique-Mangiapane
Frederic-Lazar-Tomasek

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Regula
Kulak-Emberson

Skinner
Pickard

At the Cult of Hockey

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