Cam Talbot Becomes the First NHL Goalie to Win With Nine Teams

Talbot Wins With a Ninth NHL Team

Cam Talbot stopped 20 shots in the Columbus Blue Jackets' 3-2 shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night, ESPN reported, and in doing so became the first NHL goaltender to win a game with nine different teams. He passed the previous record of eight, shared by Curtis McElhinney, Sean Burke and Ron Tugnutt.

Talbot is in his first season with Columbus. He has also won with the Rangers, Oilers, Flyers, Flames, Wild, Senators, Red Wings and Kings. ESPN Research notes that at 39 he is the oldest goaltender in franchise history to earn a win for the Blue Jackets.

We deserved to win that game.

Columbus coach Rick Bowness described Talbot as a veteran who knows how to keep himself in the game. The win lifted the Blue Jackets to 2-1-0, while Pittsburgh is 2-2-1, per ESPN's scoreboard.

Our Read: What a Nine-Team Goalie Record Says

This is a longevity record, and it is worth being clear about what it does and does not measure. The following is our reading and not a claim from ESPN.

• Goalie is the most replaceable-looking job. Teams change goalies often, and a record built on moves says as much about how the league treats the position as about Talbot.
• Being wanted nine times is still a skill. Nobody gets nine contracts without delivering enough starts that teams keep calling, and 13 seasons is a long run in a hard position.
• One game is not a trend. Twenty saves in a shootout win is a solid night, and a team at 2-1-0 has too few games to say anything about Columbus.
• Age is the real question. At 39, the useful question for Columbus is workload and how often Talbot plays, which ESPN's story does not address.

The evidence here is a record and one game, so we would hold any bigger claim loosely.

What to Watch for Talbot and the Blue Jackets

• How many starts Talbot gets as the season goes on.
• Whether Columbus keeps controlling pace the way Talbot described.
• Pittsburgh's response after a shootout loss at 2-2-1.
• Whether another veteran goalie gets close to the new mark.

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