- Blue Jackets signing veteran goalie Cam Talbot to a one-year deal worth $950K
- Columbus needed help behind Jet Greaves with Elvis Merzlikins out after shoulder surgery
- Read below for Talbot’s numbers and where he lands in the Columbus crease
Columbus found its backup goalie two days before the doors open on training camp.
The Blue Jackets are signing Cam Talbot to a one-year contract worth $950,000, Pierre LeBrun reported Monday morning.
Talbot turned 39 in July, and Columbus becomes the ninth NHL team he has played for.
Detroit was the last stop, and the 2025-26 season there was the roughest of his career. He went 12-9-6 across 34 games with a 3.19 goals-against average and an .883 save percentage:
Back up one year and the picture is a lot kinder. Talbot played 47 games as Detroit’s primary starter in 2024-25 and won 21 of them with a .901 save percentage and a 2.93 GAA.
Injury made the move necessary either way. Elvis Merzlikins underwent shoulder surgery in August and the team still has not put a timeline on his return.
Jet Greaves is the starter after taking the job from Merzlikins last season. Behind him, Pheonix Copley was the only goalie on the roster with NHL games on his resume, and he has played 10 of them over the last three years.
That is a thin room for a team trying to end a six-year playoff drought, and it is why Talbot sat on the market into mid-September and still had suitors.
Whatever last year looked like, the body of work is real. Talbot has 567 NHL games, 278 wins, 33 shutouts and a .911 career save percentage across 13 seasons.
Players report to Columbus on Wednesday, with the first on-ice session Thursday. The Blue Jackets open the preseason September 21 against Detroit, so Talbot could face his old team in his first work as a Blue Jacket.
