Introduction
Cameron Solomon Talbot (born July 5, 1987) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Playing career
Minor Hockey
Talbot grew up in Caledonia, Ontario and started playing with the Caledonia Thunder MHA programs before making the leap to the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs of the South Central AAA League in Minor Bantam. He played three seasons of AAA hockey, was undrafted in the 2003 OHL Priority Selection and returned to the Jr. Bulldogs where he played a season of Major Midget.
Jr.A. Hockey
After a solid Major Midget season, Talbot made the OJHL Hamilton Red Wings in the 2004-05 season.
Collegiate
Talbot played college hockey at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. In the 2009–10 season, he was named to the All-College Hockey America Second Team and was named Most Valuable Player in the CHA Tournament, while leading the Chargers to a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Professional
New York Rangers
On March 30, 2010, the NHL's New York Rangers signed Talbot as a free agent. He was promoted to the Rangers on February 28, 2011, after playing the majority of the 2010–11 season with the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League (AHL) (he also played two ECHL games with the Greenville Road Warriors) and was returned to the Whale on March 3, 2011.
Talbot played the 2011–12 season with Connecticut, but after Connecticut was eliminated from the AHL playoffs, Talbot was added to the Rangers' Stanley Cup playoff roster. After the 2012–13 Whale season, he was again added to the Rangers' playoff roster. Talbot was again 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. Talbot 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. 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 Finals.
For the 2014–15 season, Talbot began the year as the Rangers' backup goaltender, and in his first eight games played, he recorded three shutouts, matching his total from the entire previous season.
On February 3, 2015, Talbot became New York's temporary starting goaltender after Henrik Lundqvist suffered a ruptured blood vessel in his neck. Talbot started the Rangers' next 24 games until March 27, when Lundqvist returned to the line-up. During Lundqvist's absence, Talbot performed better in net and went 17–4–3. In fact, Talbot ended the season with a lower GAA (2.21), and a higher save percentage (.926) than Lundqvist (2.25 GAA, .922 save percentage). For his remarkable efforts towards New York's Presidents' Trophy-winning season, he received the Steve McDonald Extra Effort Award on April 6.
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.
Talbot competed for Edmonton's #1 goaltender spot with Anders Nilsson during his first season.
On January 17, 2016, the Oilers signed Talbot to a three-year, $12 million contract extension. Nilsson was eventually traded to the St. Louis Blues, leaving Cam Talbot as Edmonton's #1 goalie.
On April 6, 2017, Cam Talbot set an Oilers record for most wins in a season passing Grant Fuhr, who had 40 wins, by getting 42 wins.
International play
Talbot attended the 2016 IIHF World Championship as the starting goaltender for Team Canada. He led the team to its second straight gold medal at the tournament and tied a tournament record for shutouts with 4.
Awards and achievements
Edmonton Oilers
- Most wins in a season: 42 (2016–17)
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | W | L | T/OT | MIN | GA | SO | GAA | SV% | GP | W | L | MIN | GA | SO | GAA | SV% | ||
| 2002–03 | Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs Min. Midget | SCTA | 30 | — | — | — | 1342 | 68 | 2 | 2.26 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2003–04 | Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs Midget | SCTA | - | - | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2004–05 | Hamilton Red Wings | OPJHL | 19 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2005–06 | Hamilton Red Wings | OPJHL | 35 | 25 | 13 | 1 | 2046 | 87 | 1 | 2.55 | .908 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 903 | 52 | 1 | 3.46 | .891 | ||
| 2006–07 | Hamilton Red Wings | OPJHL | 28 | 19 | 5 | 2 | 1644 | 57 | 1 | 2.08 | .918 | 19 | 13 | 6 | 1243 | 51 | 0 | 2.46 | .923 | ||
| 2007–08 | Alabama–Huntsville Chargers | CHA | 13 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 583 | 45 | 0 | 4.63 | .860 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2008–09 | Alabama–Huntsville Chargers | CHA | 24 | 2 | 16 | 3 | 1320 | 65 | 1 | 2.95 | .907 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2009–10 | Alabama–Huntsville Chargers | CHA | 33 | 12 | 18 | 3 | 1958 | 85 | 1 | 2.61 | .925 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2009–10 | Hartford Wolf Pack | AHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 9.70 | .727 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2010–11 | Hartford Wolf Pack/CT Whale | AHL | 22 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 1308 | 62 | 2 | 2.84 | .902 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 38 | 2 | 0 | 3.13 | .917 | ||
| 2010–11 | Greenville Road Warriors | ECHL | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 122 | 5 | 0 | 2.46 | .921 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2011–12 | Connecticut Whale | AHL | 33 | 14 | 15 | 1 | 1865 | 81 | 4 | 2.61 | .913 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 571 | 20 | 2 | 2.10 | .939 | ||
| 2012–13 | Connecticut Whale | AHL | 55 | 25 | 28 | 1 | 3105 | 136 | 2 | 2.63 | .918 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2013–14 | Hartford Wolf Pack | AHL | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 314 | 13 | 0 | 2.49 | .924 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2013–14 | New York Rangers | NHL | 21 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 1211 | 33 | 3 | 1.64 | .941 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 46 | 2 | 0 | 2.61 | .846 | ||
| 2014–15 | New York Rangers | NHL | 36 | 21 | 9 | 4 | 2095 | 77 | 5 | 2.21 | .926 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2015–16 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 56 | 21 | 27 | 5 | 3223 | 137 | 3 | 2.55 | .917 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2016–17 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 73 | 42 | 22 | 8 | 4294 | 171 | 7 | 2.39 | .919 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| NHL totals | 186 | 96 | 64 | 18 | 10,823 | 418 | 18 | 2.32 | .922 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 46 | 2 | 0 | 2.61 | .846 | ||||
International
| Year | Team | Event | Result | GP | W | L | T | MIN | GA | SO | GAA | SV% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Canada East | WJAC | 02 ! |
4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 240 | 7 | 0 | 1.75 | .916 | |
| 2016 | Canada | WC | 01 ! |
8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 480 | 10 | 4 | 1.25 | .940 | |
| Junior totals | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 240 | 7 | 0 | 1.75 | .916 | ||||
| Senior totals | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 480 | 10 | 4 | 1.25 | .940 | ||||