Talbot trade shows Fletcher’s lack of faith in Stolarz

How many teams can “boast” of having three goaltenders on their roster who are all pending unrestricted free agents? Only the Flyers, of course, who this season set a new high (or low) in goaltenders seeing action.

That number will hit eight soon in the person of Cam Talbot, a UFA-to-be goalie who apparently won’t be ready for Sunday’s road game in Detroit, but might be mentally prepared for the rigors of life behind a leaky defense, as was the case for Talbot in Edmonton all season, and what likely will be the case for him in his new hockey home.

For however he lasts here, that is.

“I’m excited about the opportunity, I’m excited to come in and play behind a team that’s been rolling of late,” Talbot said via a conference call Saturday, before the Flyers did their defenseless best in blowing a four-goal lead to the Red Wings, which was before Travis Konecny bailed them out with a terrific overtime goal for a 6-5 victory.

“I’ve heard nothing but good things about the group in the room,” Talbot went on, “and obviously my relationship with Carter (Hart) has been well documented. So I’m excited to get going with him, as well.

“Do my best to help him along and hopefully find a future down the road.”

Sounds like a plan. But to what end? And at what cost?

Chuck Fletcher, the new dealmaker in the Flyers’ front office, doesn’t know much more than the rest of us when analyzing that latter question. For in giving up Anthony Stolarz in a straight-up deal for Talbot near the Midnight hour Friday night, Fletcher appeared to give up on a young goalie who recently was turning in some very impressive performances.

The 6-foot-6 Jersey boy Stolarz was once the Flyers’ top pick (though second round) on a draft day. If he had been able to stay healthy it might have been him behind the goalie hype show right now instead of 20-year-old Hart. As it is, Stolarz can still project to be a flexible, technically solid goalie in a basketball body. Against the Rangers a few weeks ago, he was essentially unbeatable. His twice-rebuilt knee, he said, felt strong. Ah yes, that knee. “It’s hard to predict the future,” Fletcher noted Saturday. “As we’ve seen all year ... since I’ve been here it’s been one thing after another. There have been times where we struggled to even get two healthy goaltenders in the net. So we’ll just take it day by day and play the guy that gives us the best chance to win.

“Time will tell,” Fletcher added about the Stolarzvs.-Talbot swap. “They’re both good goaltenders. And Carter’s a good goaltender and Brian Elliott’s a good goaltender. So I like the fact that we have good depth coming down the stretch and it gives us a chance to evaluate Cam to see if he’s a fit for us going forward.”

Couple that with Hart’s offseason bonding with big brother and workout partner Talbot in their Alberta homeland the past two summers and you can get a warm and fuzzy feeling about the latest state of Flyers’ goaltending. Of course, Flyers goaltending has given fans all kinds of weird feelings dating back 30 years ago or so.

Speaking of weird, is it a sound managerial philosophy to go with a 31-year-old Talbot who can’t boast of his ugly performance line (10-15-3, 3.36 GAA, .893 SP) if and when he becomes a UFA July 1, as opposed to Stolarz’s risky promise?

True, there is the little matter of him missing much of two years with repeated knee problems, but put Stolarz next to wunderkind Hart and the Flyers could have had one of the youngest and more exciting of goaltending tandems going forward. Instead, with 33-year-old former starter Brian Elliott playing Friday night on a rehab assignment for the Phantoms and looking to return soon as insurance, Fletcher dumped Stolarz in return for another veteran goalie whose numbers have been on the skids.

Go figure? It wouldn’t take long to do that once you remembered the screwed up Group VI free agency rules. They dictate that a guy like Stolarz, having turned 25 and with three professional seasons but only 18 NHL games of 30 minutes of ice time or longer on his resume ... was going to be just like those older guys Elliott, Talbot and Michal Neuvirth.

Unrestricted free agents all. Stolarz can still be that if the Oilers don’t get another 10 games of 30 minutes of ice time. If they do, he’s their special restricted free agent goalie.

I’m betting coach Ken Hitchcock is going to play him a bit.

“Anthony has 19 career games (one of which was under 30 minutes of ice time) under his belt and Carter is in his first year of pro hockey,” Fletcher said. “So certainly there is an element of inexperience there. But we had an opportunity here to acquire Cam and see what he can do down the stretch for us.

“I think this is an opportunity for us to evaluate Cam down the stretch and see if there’s a fit, and just as importantly, hopefully give us a boost as we continue to push for a playoff spot.”

Oh yeah, that. The Flyers, lucky as all get-out to get-out of Wells Fargo Center Saturday with two points in the first of the weekend home-and-home series with the Red Wings, are now six points shy of the second-wildcard-holding Penguins in the Eastern Conference standings. But they also have to leapfrog Buffalo and Carolina on the way to trying to displace Pittsburgh in that eighth conference standings position.

The Flyers are on a 101-1 run and still the playoff odds aren’t with them. They can only hope that the wild card race becomes a hockey version of musical chairs over the next seven weeks of stretch drive hockey. Meanwhile, Fletcher seems determined to keep playing cards ahead of the Feb. 25 trade deadline.

But it’s more of a Go Fish approach than a game of stud poker.

“Regardless of how things play out down the stretch here, we’re clearly going to need to add a couple of goaltenders this summer and we need to make sure we have enough depth at that position,” Fletcher said. “For right now the important thing is we’ve added another quality guy.”

And dumped a goalie that deserved the chance to be better than merely a backup in an Edmonton outpost.