Cam Talbot
Detroit Red Wings Goaltender
A .9004 in 47 games at 37, and 8.7 goals of goaltending above expectation on a club that finished 26th in finishing.
| Season | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | GA | GAA | SO | SA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-14 | NYR | 21 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 33 | 1.64 | 3 | 560 | .941 |
| 2014-15 | NYR | 36 | 21 | 9 | 4 | 77 | 2.21 | 5 | 1038 | .926 |
| 2015-16 | EDM | 56 | 21 | 27 | 5 | 137 | 2.55 | 3 | 1648 | .917 |
| 2016-17 | EDM | 73 | 42 | 22 | 8 | 171 | 2.39 | 7 | 2117 | .919 |
| 2017-18 | EDM | 67 | 31 | 31 | 3 | 188 | 3.02 | 1 | 2036 | .908 |
| 2018-19 | EDM/PHI | 35 | 11 | 17 | 3 | 108 | 3.40 | 1 | 997 | .892 |
| 2019-20 | CGY | 26 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 63 | 2.63 | 2 | 780 | .919 |
| 2020-21 | MIN | 33 | 19 | 8 | 5 | 86 | 2.63 | 2 | 1008 | .915 |
| 2021-22 | MIN | 49 | 32 | 12 | 4 | 132 | 2.76 | 3 | 1488 | .911 |
| 2022-23 | OTT | 36 | 17 | 14 | 2 | 95 | 2.93 | 1 | 935 | .898 |
| 2023-24 | LAK | 54 | 27 | 20 | 6 | 130 | 2.50 | 3 | 1490 | .913 |
| 2024-25 | DET | 47 | 21 | 19 | 5 | 129 | 2.93 | 2 | 1295 | .900 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 533 | 266 | 195 | 47 | 1349 | 2.66 | 33 | 15392 | .912 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
21-19-5 in 47 games, .9004 with a 2.93 average and 2 shutouts on 1,295 shots.
Detroit’s goaltending came in 8.7 goals better than the chances faced, 11th in the league, against a club that finished 26th in finishing at 14.4 goals below expectation. The crease was not the problem last season and it was the only phase that was not.
The Physical Game
6-3 and 202, and the game is positional and economical rather than athletic. He is square, he does not travel further than the puck requires, and he tracks well through traffic.
The recovery is where age shows. Beaten laterally he no longer gets to the second puck, and a scramble is more dangerous against him than it was five years ago. Behind a club that concedes as many second chances as this one, that is the recurring flaw.
The Mental Game
Thirteen seasons, six organisations, and a temperament that has never wavered — he has been a starter, a backup, a playoff hero and a waiver casualty, and the record shows no stretch where any of it visibly affected him.
He takes a bad goal without it becoming a bad period, which for a 37-year-old playing 47 games behind a mediocre team is most of the value.
The Intangibles
At 37, on a modest contract, having given a rebuilding club a genuinely above-average season.
The reservation is arithmetic. He turns 38 in July, he played 47 games, and the club has now traded for a 32-year-old to share the job. There is no long-term answer here and the organisation appears to know it.