Back on Feb. 7th, then general manager Peter Chiarelli acquired veteran forward Max Talbot. An acquisition like that is one of the many reasons he no longer works for the Boston Bruins.
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In an NHL.com report, Chiarelli was caught calling Talbot a ‘glue guy’. If that’s supposed to mean he sticks to opponents like glue, than that’s a farce.
This is a guy who can’t hold his own. This is a guy who’s a defensive liability more than anything. Thankfully he’s only a $900,000 cap hit. Still, he can’t skate and he can’t hit. Why is he here?
Why is he on this fourth line? More importantly why is he on this team still? If I was GM Don Sweeney, I would have, though it’s a stretch, traded this guy by now. Sure, there aren’t many teams on the market looking for a 31-year-old grinder who’s game continues to decline, but it’s worth a couple of phone calls. To some teams, they may still see a glimmer of value in Talbot. The Bruins shouldn’t.
His game last year, between Colorado and Boston, proved he was just a shadow of himself defensively. Look at his plus-minus. In 81 games last season, he posted a minus-1, and while in Boston for 18 games, he posted a minus-3. The only upside to Talbot last year with the Bruins was that he only averaged 12:13 of ice time. At least he wasn’t playing as much as Chris Kelly, who averaged nearly 15 minutes per game last season.
Talbot’s total goals against while on the ice was 12 with the B’s last year. On the penalty kill, he was on the ice for 4 goals in Boston. Talbot’s past numbers are also troublesome. In three years with Philadelphia, his TGA was 107. Yet, in just two seasons with Colorado, Talbot’s TGA was 102 while playing in 133 games during that stretch. Those are just some of the reasons why the Bruins never should have bothered with Talbot. He wasn’t ever needed, anyway. If coach Claude Julien would have allowed the kids in the team’s system to have a crack at fourth line minutes, Talbot likely would never have arrived in Boston.
So what should the Bruins do with Talbot?
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Some think right off the bat that no team would trade for Talbot, and that if they don’t want to deal with him for his remaining year with the team, they could possibly buyout his contract. Though the buyout period has ended, Talbot’s buyout would still have been doubtful.
Per generalfanager.com, here’s what the buyout process would be (keeping in mind that Colorado retained half of Talbot’s salary):
Talbot’s contract salary due for this season is $1 million. His contract cap hit is $1.8 million (with Colorado retaining $900,000). The buyout cost is $333,333 (either 1/3 or 2/3 of the total value remaining on the contract spread evenly over twice the number of years left on contract). The buyout savings is $666,667 calculated by subtracting buyout cost from contract salary due). The buyout cap hit is $1,133,333 (contract cap hit minus buyout savings).
When including the 2016-17 season, the contract salary due and the cap hit would both be zero. But the buyout cost would still be $333,333, subsequently making the buyout savings -$333,333. Thus, the buyout cap hit would be $333,333.
Looking at it from a team prospective, the team cap hit before the buyout would be $66,635,667 for this season. The team cap hit after the buyout would be $65,969,000. It’s a favorable difference of -$666,667. Yet in the 2016-17 season, the difference is slated to be +$333,333.
Ultimately, it might be wiser to trade Talbot away to a team with a lot of youth, looking for more veteran skaters.
There’s always a team like Florida, who has $11,505,817 in cap space. They’re also a team that have a couple of notable vets, also former Bruins. Shawn Thornton (38) and Jaromir Jagr (43) are veteran skaters that help the Panthers, with six forwards younger than 25 on their roster, acclimate their youth into the NHL. Why not add another vet like Talbot into that mix? Send Florida Talbot and get a sixth round pick out of him. If Florida was foolish enough to trade for Reilly Smith and take Marc Savard‘s contract, why not send them Talbot, too?
Does it make sense to allow Talbot to see the ice when a kid, possibly Seth Griffith or Brian Ferlin, could take his spot on your fourth line? Julien needs to give kids more trust. Let at least one kid see the bottom pairing and get Talbot out of here.
If the Bruins don’t move on from Talbot, they would have a fourth line that’s slow, old, and would be a defensive liability if Talbot remains. It would also be a line that doesn’t flow with the rest of the line pairings.
There are options away from Talbot. It’s time to let him go.