The Confluence
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Next season is key for Penguins’ Max Talbot
by Tony on 07/19/10 at 09:57 AM ET
Comments (6)
The play won’t disappear from the memories of Penguins fans for a long, long time.
Mucker Max Talbot takes a nice feed along the boards from Chris Kunitz to start a 2-on-1 break with Tyler Kennedy. Talbot decides to take the shot and fires a hard wrister over the glove hand of Wings’ goalie Chris Osgood for his second goal of the game and what would turn out to be the Stanley Cup-winning goal in Game Seven of the Cup Finals last June.
As I’ve said more than a few times since, Talbot’s performance in that game could very well affect his contract negotiations for the remainder of his career. Whether that would be a fair assessment or not, that’s a separate issue.
However, after a woeful, injury-riddled 2009-2010 season, Talbot is facing a critical upcoming season.
Mad Max has become the “locker room guy” for the Penguins since the trading of Colby Armstrong in the Marian Hossa deal in 2008. He’s the one who keeps his teammates loose, especially his French-Canadian countryman Marc-Andre Fleury. He’s the one who has filmed a couple of intentionally silly commercials with a local Pittsburgh car dealership, using his pseudo-nickname “Superstar”. He did the “dryer” commercial with Sidney Crosby this past season.
But this is also the Max Talbot who scored only two goals and five assists with a -6 plus/minus in 45 games last season. To be completely fair to Max, it was pretty clear that he never quite got over the shoulder surgery that kept him out of the lineup to start the ‘09-‘10 season as well as the groin injury he suffered later in the year. It must also be noted that Talbot was a healthy scratch a few times, whether it was due to his nagging injuries or not is merely speculation at this point.
This is basically a contract year for Talbot as well. He’ll earn $1 million this coming season and will be a Restricted Free Agent after season’s end. I’m sure both Talbot and the Penguins would like to sign him to a long-term deal, but if Talbot doesn’t rebound from his poor ‘09-‘10 season, that could very well complicate things.
On top of that, Penguins’ GM Ray Shero is probably still not quite finished with free agency, most likely looking for a 3rd line center after reportedly moving Jordan Staal up to the 2nd line. There are some that say that is unnecessary, saying that Talbot could take over the 3rd line center. But if a new center does come in, if things hold true with the remainder of the Pens’ 3rd and 4th lines, Talbot should be safe somewhere among those forwards. However, there will also be youngsters such as Eric Tangradi and Dustin Jeffrey that will be fighting for roster spots.
One thing’s for sure: Talbot needs to get his game back on track or his long-term future with the Penguins could be in question.
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Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
Comments
I don’t know…he still scares the crap out of me.
Posted by mrfluffy from Long Beach on 07/19/10 at 10:02 AM ET
I wouldn’t exactly say it is the worst thing to happen to him. It definitely raised expectations, but he was playing really well for most of the playoffs, not just game 7 of the finals. Heck, even the year before that he showed he could score big clutch goals. Last year would have been his opportunity to see if the playoff run was a fluke or if he could maintain it throughout the entire year, but that injury and missing training camp screwed him. I like Max, and hope he can get back to a bottom 6 grinder who kills penalties and can occasional go up on one of the top two lines,
However, if he can’t, there are more than enough 3rd and 4th liners the Pens have who could come up and do the Talbot’s job. It will definitely be interesting to watch him this year.
Posted by pens fan in baltimore on 07/19/10 at 10:29 AM ET
Good piece Tony.
It would be great to see Max step up and take over that third line center position. That would make it so much easier for the top two lines with Staal in the mix on one of them.
Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 07/19/10 at 03:19 PM ET
I just don’t think that’s the Pens’ opinion, if they indeed grab another 3rd line center like Madden, Halpern or Moore….
I don’t know, I guess just as I was never a big Colby fan, I’ve never expected that much out of Max…. Of course I hope he comes back strong this year….
Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 07/19/10 at 03:25 PM ET
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Worst thing to Happen to Max is his 2 Goals in Game 7 Against the Wings, Now a lot of Pens Fans think he’s a Goal scorer !! He is Not He’s a 3rd/4th Line grinder who can score the occasional goal
Posted by Evilpens on 07/19/10 at 10:01 AM ET