Cam Talbot Talks Signing w/ LAK – “They want to win & I’m at the point in my career where I want to win too”

Free agents who change teams typically come in sight unseen.

That’s only partially true for Cam Talbot, though.

Sure he’s only been to Los Angeles as a visiting player, but one day after signing with the Kings, Talbot pointed to two past relationships – Todd McLellan and Kevin Fiala – as familiarities he has coming into Los Angeles for the first time now as a member of the organization.

Starting with the LA bench boss, Talbot and McLellan go way back. Talbot was the starting goaltender to McLellan’s head coach in Edmonton, with the two partnering up on a run to Game 7 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2017, in what was one of the strongest seasons of Talbot’s career.

That relationship was beneficial to Talbot on two fronts.

First things first, McLellan is a man and a coach who Talbot has a lot of respect for and that certainly factored into his decision to join the Kings on the opening day of free agency.

“Playing for Todd in Edmonton, obviously I had some of my best years when I was there,” Talbot said earlier today. “He rode me pretty hard when we were there and I played the most amount of games I’ve ever played, had some of my best years and getting to reunite with him was definitely a huge bonus for me.”

Talbot also spoke favorably of McLellan’s system and how it benefits goaltenders. It’s a system he still feels comfortable in, even a few years later.

He noted that the way McLellan likes his teams to play lends itself to not surrendering a ton of second chances or Grade A looks – backed up by the stats, which show that the Kings gave up the second fewest number of high-danger chances in the NHL last season. Talbot called himself comfortable playing behind McLellan’s system and structure, from those four seasons together, which was another selling point in choosing the Kings.

“Playing in Todd’s system, obviously I’m very comfortable in that, I’ve played it for four years now,” he said. “It was definitely a huge selling point to come to a team like this, that’s on the cusp of winning and to play in a system that I already know, play for a guy that I already know, that I respect in Todd. It just seemed like everything fell into place.”

Talbot mentioned that he talked on the phone with McLellan today, which was exciting for him, but the first person with the Kings to reach out to him outside of the management group was actually a former teammate – Kevin Fiala.

Fiala and Talbot played together in Minnesota a couple of years back and had a good relationship, which made it unsurprising to him that Fiala was quick to reach out and welcome him to the organization.

“Kev was the first guy to reach out yesterday, not surprisingly, he’s a great guy and obviously a heck of a hockey player,” Talbot said. “Looking forward to reconnecting with him and I’ve heard only good things about this group. I’m looking forward to stepping in and being a part of that locker room.”

While he’s only ever played with Fiala, he certainly seemed pretty up to date with the latest musings out of LA Kings land.

In addition to a group of teammates he’s looking forward to building relationships with, Talbot believes his new team is one of the NHL’s deepest up the middle, which was another selling point on coming to Los Angeles. The addition of Pierre-Luc Dubois, linking him up with Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault, made the biggest waves around the hockey community heading into the draft and Talbot was one of many who took notice.

“They’ve got two of the best two-way centers in the game [in Kopitar and Danault] and you bring in a guy like Pierre-Luc Dubois and you’re pretty stacked down the middle,” he added.

He’s also at the point in his career when he wants to win hockey games and that meshes with what the LA Kings are looking to do. This isn’t a rebuilding effort or a team looking for an experienced goalie to eat minutes in net to support a young and inexperienced group. The Kings are committed into a win-now mode, with recent acquisitions and pushing the salary-cap ceiling cementing their mindset moving forward.

A mindset that jives very well with what Talbot is looking for at this stage in his career.

“Coming to a team that’s been building towards something here, they want to win and I’m at the point in my career where I want to win too,” Talbot said of the Kings. “This was a huge opportunity for me to come here, step in and hopefully challenge to play some games.”

Emphasis on the word challenge, because Talbot didn’t shy away from the notion of a tandem effort between the pipes.

As a veteran of 10 years at the NHL level, Talbot has been in just about every situation a goaltender can be. He’s been the defined and clear-cut number-one goaltender, as he was in Edmonton, and he’s been the defined and clear-cut number-two goaltender, as he was in New York behind Henrik Lundqvist. Recently, he was involved in a 1A/1B split with Marc-Andre Fleury in Minnesota, a situation he felt was strong because of the commitment and character both he and Fleury put into it.

Alongside Pheonix Copley, who Talbot said he is eager to connect with, he’s hopeful to develop a similar relationship, both personally and professionally. Goaltender is a unique position because there’s only one net and there are two guys who want it each and every night. Therefore, the teammate you’re working the closest with won’t play when you do. It’s a balance, for sure, but it’s a balance Talbot is looking forward to embracing with his new team and his new battery mate.

“Very comfortable [in a goaltending tandem],” Talbot added. “That’s kind of where it’s been for me for the past couple of years now. When Marc-Andre came into Minnesota a couple of years ago, we had an absolutely great relationship for the last few months and our tandem worked really well down the stretch there……I’m definitely looking forward to it. I talked to Todd today, he said Pheonix is a great guy who works hard and that’s all you can ask for in a goalie partner.”

While the relationship aspect is important, and will be valued by both goaltenders, Talbot is still a competitive guy and he wants the net as often as can.

The Kings have proven to be a team that is willing to ride the hot hand. Look no further than Copley’s rise last season, when he went from the undisputed starter with the Ontario Reign to the undisputed starter with the LA Kings in a matter of three weeks. Copley gave the Kings the best chance to win when he came up last season and Talbot believes the same can happen here this year, whether that be he or Copley between the pipes.

“I feel like this is an opportunity that if you come in and you play well, you’re just going to kind of get the net,” he added. “This team, they’re ready to win now and if you’re playing well, I can’t see any reason why Todd wouldn’t stick with that guy and that goes both ways. If [Pheonix] is playing well then I would expect him to get the games as well. So, that healthy competition is always good, it pushes everybody to be better and that’s what I thrive on and I’m assuming that Phoenix does as well. I think it’s going to be a very healthy competition and I’m looking forward to it.”

Looking ahead, Talbot said he is fully recovered from a few injuries he had during the 2022-23 season, that saw him miss time on three occasions, including the first month or so of the season. Injuries in January and March also cost him time, but he said that those are behind him now and his focus is on the summer ahead.

With what he believes is the highest level of commitment and training, Talbot is excited for what’s to come in LA and he’s getting ready to hit the ground running.

“I feel good, definitely no lingering effects from anything that that happened last year,” he added. “For anyone that doesn’t know me, I feel like I train extremely hard, especially for a guy my age, so I’m doing everything that I do every other summer. The older you get, the more you try to add into your repertoire here and I’ll just try to hit the ground running when training camp starts.”