Talbot expecting himself, Detroit to build on 2024-25 season

DETROIT -- Although the Detroit Red Wings fell short in their pursuit of a 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs spot, goalie Cam Talbot believes the players can constructively look back on the campaign.

“It’s never an easy time of the year when you don’t accomplish what you want to accomplish at the start of the season,” Talbot said during his end-of-season media session on April 19. “Definitely disappointing, the way it ended. We made some strides towards the end of the year and from Christmas on when the coaching change happened. I think that’s something we can build off heading into next year.”

Despite being new to Detroit after signing a two-year free-agent deal with the club last summer, the 37-year-old provided a strong veteran presence on the ice and in the dressing room this season. Talbot also led all Red Wings netminders in games played (47), wins (21) save percentage (.901), shutouts (2), shots against (1,295), saves (1,167) and time on ice (2642:10).

“We look at Cam’s season, he did very well,” Red Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman said on April 29. “We’re pleased. He met expectations for us.”

In 2024-25, Talbot reunited with Todd McLellan, who the Red Wings named head coach on Dec. 26, after the pair worked together with the Los Angeles Kings (2023-24) and Edmonton Oilers (2015-19).

According to Talbot, while midseason coaching changes can make it “tough to implement everything throughout the year,” he noted how the Red Wings showed improvement in several areas and have a strong foundation in place heading into the summer.

“Maybe the numbers didn’t always tell the story, but I thought our penalty kill did get better throughout the season,” Talbot said. “Our systems were a little bit tighter. We were coming out of our zone a little bit, changing some breakouts and stuff like that. Communication and accountability, on and off the ice, [McLellan and assistant coach Trent Yawney] just bring so much of that. You could tell, when they came in, things started to change. I think the whole group is looking forward to starting fresh and from Training Camp next year.”

And from his vantage point between the pipes, Talbot also got a front-row seat to the continued development of Detroit’s talented core.

“You can see the strides this team is making, especially having such a young backend with Mo [Seider], Simon [Edvinsson] and Albert [Johansson] getting a lot of big minutes against the top players in this League,” Talbot said. “You can see the growth in them, so that’s only going to continue to make us better. You’re getting guys like Lucas [Raymond] and [captain Dylan Larkin] who are big portions of our game up front…I think the growth within the room and the cohesiveness within the group was fun to see and be part of.”