Cameron Talbot (born July 5, 1987) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a goaltender for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also played for the New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary Flames, Minnesota Wild, Ottawa Senators, Los Angeles Kings, and Detroit Red Wings.
Before joining the NHL, Talbot played at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he was named an All-College Hockey America Second Team and MVP in the 2010 CHA tournament. Internationally, Talbot has represented Canada at the 2016 IIHF World Championship, where he won gold.
Playing career Amateur Talbot grew up in Caledonia, Ontario, and played minor hockey within the region, going undrafted in the Ontario Hockey League's Priority Selection draft. Talbot made the Hamilton Red Wings of the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) for the 2004–05 season. In his second season with Hamilton in 2005–06, he was named one of the league's all-stars. He committed to playing college hockey at University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) in mid 2006, as they were the only team to approach him. In his final OJHL season in 2006–07, he was named the league's most valuable player and earned all-star honours again. Following his excellent season, several other teams approached him, but he remained committed to UAH. While playing with Hamilton, Talbot attended university for two years which affected his National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) eligibility.
He joined UAH for the 2007–08 season, and as a freshman, and recorded one win and ten losses in 13 appearances, with an .860 save percentage and a 4.63 goals against average (GAA). He improved in his sophomore season in 2008–09 with the UAH Chargers, recording a record of two wins, sixteen losses and three tie games (2–16–3) in 24 appearances, but with a save percentage of .907 and a GAA of 2.95. In his third and final season with the Chargers in 2009–10, he led his team to the College Hockey America (CHA) conference title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament for only the school's second time in its history. He finished the season with a record of 12–18–3, a save percentage of .925 and a GAA of 2.61. In the tournament, the Chargers nearly beat the top-ranked Miami Redhawks, but were ultimately eliminated. He was named to the All-CHA Second Team and was named the Most Valuable Player in the CHA Tournament.
Professional New York Rangers As an undrafted free agent, the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL) signed Talbot to a contract on March 30, 2010. He signed an amateur tryout contract with the Rangers' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack on March 31 and made one appearance for the team in the 2009–10 season. He was assigned to the renamed Connecticut Whale to begin the 2010–11 season. However, he suffered an ankle sprain on January 16, 2011, and missed 13 games. After recovering, he was assigned to the Rangers' ECHL affiliate, the Greenville Road Warriors, on February 21. He played in two games with Greenville, going 1–0–1, with a .921 save percentage and a 2.46 GAA. He was promoted to the Rangers directly from Greenville on February 28, but only dressed as the backup to starting goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and was returned to the Whale on March 3, 2011, without appearing. He completed the season in Connecticut where he made 22 appearances with a record of 11–9–2, a save percentage of .902 and a save percentage of 2.84. The team qualified for the playoffs and faced the Portland Pirates in the opening round. Connecticut was eliminated by Portland, with Talbot just starting one game of the series. Talbot played the entire 2011–12 season with Connecticut, making 33 appearances with a record of 14–15–1, a save percentage of .913 and a GAA of 2.61. After the Whale were eliminated in the second round from the AHL playoffs, Talbot was added to the Rangers' Stanley Cup playoff roster, but did not appear. In nine playoff games with Connecticut, he tallied a record of 5–4, with a .939 save percentage and a GAA of 2.10. He was named the Whale's starting goaltender for the 2012–13 season. In 55 games, he had a record of 25–28–1, with a save percentage of .918 and a GAA of 2.63. Connecticut failed to qualify for the playoffs and after the Whale's season ended he was again added to the Rangers' playoff roster but did not make any appearances.
He began the 2013–14 season with the renamed Hartford Wolf Pack. Talbot was called up to the Rangers on October 15, 2013, after Martin Biron was demoted to the AHL, finding himself a place in the NHL for the first time as the backup to starter Henrik Lundqvist. He made his on-ice NHL debut on October 24 in a 2–1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. His first NHL win came in his next game, against the Detroit Red Wings, on October 26, 2013, and he earned his first NHL shutout against the Montreal Canadiens on November 16, 2013. He finished the regular season with five games played for Hartford, going 4–0–1 with a .924 save percentage and 2.49 GAA. In 21 games with the Rangers, he went 12–6–1, with a .941 save percentage and 1.64 GAA, with three shutouts. In the 2014 playoffs, Talbot twice entered to relieve Lundqvist en route to the Rangers' Eastern Conference title before ultimately falling to the Los Angeles Kings in the Cup Final. He went 0-1–0 in the two games, with a save percentage of .846 and a GAA of 2.61.
For the 2014–15 season, Talbot began the year as the Rangers' backup goaltender. On December 20, 2014, he signed a one-year extension worth $1.45 million with the Rangers. He took a larger role in February 2015 after Lundqvist went down with a major injury. Talbot started 24 of the Rangers' next 26 games (Mackenzie Skapski played the other two) until March 27, when Lundqvist returned to the line-up. He finished the season with 36 appearances with a 21–9–4 record and a save percentage of .926 and a GAA and .926. For his remarkable efforts towards New York's Presidents' Trophy-winning season, he received the Steve McDonald Extra Effort Award on April 6. Though he backed up Lundqvist throughout the playoffs, he did not make an appearance as the Rangers advanced to the Eastern Conference finals before being eliminated by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Edmonton Oilers On June 27, 2015, Talbot was traded by the Rangers to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for three draft picks in the 2015 NHL entry draft. He made his Oilers debut on October 8 in a 3–1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. He competed for Edmonton's #1 goaltender spot with Anders Nilsson during his first season with the Oilers in 2015–16. He marked his first shutout with the Oilers on January 4, in a 1–0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. On January 17, the Oilers signed Talbot to a three-year, $12 million contract extension. Nilsson was eventually traded to the St. Louis Blues, leaving Talbot as Edmonton's starting goaltender. He finished the regular season with a record of 21–27–5, with three shutouts in 56 appearances with a .917 save percentage and a GAA of 2.55. However, the team finished last in the Western Conference and missed the playoffs.
In the 2016–17 season, Talbot made his debut in an NHL outdoor game in the 2016 Heritage Classic, getting a shutout in a 3–0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. He had previously participated in two Stadium Series games with the Rangers as a backup, but had not appeared on the ice. On April 6, 2017, he set an Oilers record for most wins in a season passing Grant Fuhr, who had 40 wins, by earning 41 wins. Talbot finished the season by leading the NHL in games played (72 of 82 in the regular season) and time on ice by a goaltender, as well as tied for first in wins with 42. The Oilers finished that season second in the Pacific Division, with 103 points. In the opening round of the 2017 playoffs against the San Jose Sharks, he recorded back-to-back shutouts. Talbot helped the Oilers reach Game 7 of the Western Semifinals, losing to the Anaheim Ducks in the first playoff appearance by the Oilers in ten years. Talbot finished the playoffs with a 2.88 GAA, a .924 save percentage, and two shutouts.
On October 4, 2017, Talbot recorded a 27-save shutout in the 2017–18 season-opener against the Calgary Flames. He and the Oilers would not be able to replicate the previous season's success, and missed the playoffs. He finished the season with a 31–31–3 record with a save percentage of .908 and a GAA of 3.02. He entered the 2018–19 season intending to prove the previous season was a fluke, but his play dipped again and he was surpassed by Mikko Koskinen in the Oilers net. In 31 appearances with Edmonton, he had a record of 10–15–3, with a GAA of 3.36 and a save percentage of .893.
Philadelphia Flyers On February 15, 2019, Talbot was traded by the Oilers to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for goaltender Anthony Stolarz. Talbot had to waive his no-movement contract clause to be traded to the Flyers. Philadelphia acquired him to be both competition and a mentor to young goaltender Carter Hart and to replace Brian Elliott as backup. He made his Flyers debut on March 1, starting in a 6–3 victory over the New Jersey Devils, and marked the eighth goaltender to play for the team that season, setting a new NHL record. However, his play did not improve with Philadelphia, which was one of the worst teams in terms of goals against. He completed the season with the Flyers, recording a 1–2–0 record in four appearances, with a .881 save percentage and a GAA of 3.70.
Calgary Flames
On July 1, 2019, having left the Flyers as an unrestricted free agent, Talbot signed a one-year, $2.75 million deal with the Calgary Flames. He made his first appearance for the Flames in a 2–1 loss to the San Jose Sharks on October 13. Early in the season, Talbot saw less action, backing up starter David Rittich. However, after a coaching change, by mid-season, Talbot became the preferred option. On February 1, 2020, Talbot fought fellow goalie Mike Smith of the Edmonton Oilers during a Battle of Alberta game. He recorded his first shutout with Calgary on February 13 in a 6–0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, setting a new career-high in saves in a game with 44. The 2019–20 season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic when the league stopped all play on March 12. In 26 games, he had a record of 12–10–1, with a save percentage of .919 and a GAA of 2.63. When the NHL returned for the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs in August, Talbot beat Rittich for the starting spot for the Flames' opening series against the Winnipeg Jets in the qualifying round. In game four of the best-of-five series, Talbot recorded a shutout to eliminate the Jets. However, in the following best-of-seven round against the Dallas Stars, the Flames were eliminated, despite Talbot posting another shutout in game three.
Minnesota Wild