Oilers Send Three Picks to Rangers for Cam Talbot

The goalie market is gone, just like that. First it was Robin Lehner. Then it was Eddie Lack. Now, its Cam Talbot. The Edmonton Oilers remained one of the busiest teams on draft day, acquiring Talbot from the New York Rangers in exchange for three draft picks.

Also going to the Oilers is the 209th overall pick. Going to the Rangers are the 57th, 79th, and 184th overall selections. This is the Oilers second draft trade after they gave up their 16th and 33rd picks to acquire defenseman griffin Reinhart from the New York Islanders.

Talbot had been rumored to be on the move all off season. He created some noise during the regular season when he stepped in as the starting goalie after Henrik Lundqvist suffered a neck injury.

The late picks were far less than the Rangers expected to get for Talbot, whom they thought would be a commodity. It could be that the goalie market collapsed on itself under the pressure of so many promising potential starters. Certainly, the Vancouver Canucks are feeling the same way today.

There had been reports the day before of the San Jose Sharks offering a first round selection for Talbot’s services, but either that was never to be or the Rangers believed they could get something better. This was obviously not the case.

Some reports indicated that the Rangers wanted two second round picks and a player from the Oilers roster, but it seems Edmonton doesn’t have it on their radar to move on from many of their young players.

It was reported by the New York Post earlier in the week that the Florida Panthers had offered Jimmy Hayes in return for Talbot.

The Oilers score in this trade. They haven’t been able to solidify their goaltending situation and now they have a player, young and cheap, who can step right in.

Talbot will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, but for this year at least, his $1.45 million price tag is very affordable.

In 57 games over his career, Talbot has gone 33-15-5 and has a career goals against average of 2.00. Those are pretty awesome numbers for a guy who was a backup, and if he comes even close to replicating his career totals, the Oilers added him for a song.

The Rangers used their new picks to select Robin Kovacs, Sergey Zborovskiy, and Aleksi Saarela.