Boston Bruins: Keeping Max Talbot
The Boston Bruins have an awful lot of choices to make. The Bruins are expected to make some serious moves at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft and a few more before free agency frenzy kicks off July 1.
The Bruins will have to figure out if they can move any of their long-term, no-trade players in order to find a semblance of cap flexibility. The biggest name being thrown about is Milan Lucic. Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg have also been discussed as potential moveable players.
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Once the Bruins deal with the biggest problems, they’ll need to look at the rest of the team. The Bruins will be getting an influx of talent from Providence as former P-Bruins GM (and now Boston GM) Don Sweeney helps bring in some new blood. They’ll need it to be cap compliant.
So, what about the veterans who could be targets to be moved. When you look at the list of veterans who don’t have the safety of a no-move contract, one name jumps to the top of the page.
Max Talbot.
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Puck Prose
Simply put, Max Talbot is a cheap (his contract for next year has a cap hit of $875,000)veteran. He’s dependable, and is still a solid play maker. He’s fearless on the ice, and has almost no filter when talking with the media or in the locker room. He’s great with the fans, and is always smiling. On some level, he’s a weird combination of Patrice Bergeron and Shawn Thornton.
The cagey veteran didn’t get much of a chance to shine in Boston. In the eighteen games he played for the Bruins, he only tallied three assists for the Black and Gold. (In his defense, he was teamed up with now-departed Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille.) Talbot did his best to a play maker for his new team, and he gelled well with the Bruins.
It’s a pity, because Campbell and Talbot really had some interesting chemistry.
While he didn’t score for the B’s, he still made contributions on the ice. He registered forty-six hits during his time in Boston. (He had eighty-six hits in the sixty-three games he played in Colorado.) Finally, thanks to Maxime Talbot, the Jordan Caron experiment was brought to an end after several disappointing seasons with very little to show for it.
It makes sense for the Bruins to keep Talbot next season. He’ll get the job done, and he’ll likely be a cost effective move for the B’s as they struggle to be cap compliant going into the 2015-16 season.