While goaltender Cam Talbot had expressed an interest in staying with Calgary, that doesn’t appear to be in the cards, at least for now. Sportsnet’s Eric Francis reports (Twitter link) that the two sides held recent discussions but weren’t able to come to terms on a contract so the veteran will test the open market in a couple of hours.
The 33-year-old was the backup for the Flames to David Rittich during the regular season and posted strong numbers with a .919 SV% and a 2.63 GAA in 26 games (22 starts). That helped earn him the starting job for the postseason as he made all 10 starts against Winnipeg and Dallas which should help his stock heading to the market.
Talbot has indicated that he wants to have the opportunity to start but there aren’t likely to be many of those opportunities out there. However, a platoon situation certainly shouldn’t be out of the equation and he’ll have a fair bit of interest in free agency. He’s coming off of a season that saw him make $2.75MM and even with a lot of other options out there and a flat salary cap, he should be able to get a deal that’s close to that from someone.