The Ottawa Senators continued their goaltender turnover as, one day after trading Matt Murray, they have acquired Cam Talbot from the Minnesota Wild for netminder Filip Gustavsson:

Talbot, who just turned 35 years old a week ago, has one year left on his contract worth $3.66M in 2022-23, while Gustavsson is under contract for 2022-23 for under $780K. He turned 24 back in June and will be an RFA after this season.

Let's break this down.

What Minnesota Gets

It was a tough year for Gustavsson in Ottawa as he posted an .892 save percentage across 18 appearances and 16 starts. He has just 27 career appearances in the NHL with a .905 save percentage.

Gustavsson was protected by Ottawa for Seattle's expansion draft, which pointed to him possibly being the goalie of the future. The issue here is he hasn't really shown well for extended periods at the AHL level and his stint in the NHL in 2021-2 didn't move the needle much. Anton Forsberg outperformed him by a wide margin this past season and he's signed for three more years. In Gustavsson’s brief NHL time, he’s posted a high-danger save percentage near the 15th percentile. It hasn’t been a good start for him.

More than anything, the Wild get a bit more cap flexibility this summer. With over $12M going to buyouts, Kevin Fiala was already a roster casualty and they still don't have much to spend. If Gustavsson can perform adequately, this likely gives the Wild a cheap goaltending tandem, along with Marc-André Fleury, for the next two years.

Following the Murray trade, Gustavsson may have been in line for 30 starts if all went well in Ottawa. Now, he's a clear backup to Fleury, and that doesn't bode well for his fantasy value. He'll have a better defensive team in front of him, but with fewer starts to make an impact. Not that he can't take a starting role – any goalie that plays well enough can do that – but it will take an injury or serious underperformance from the incumbent. It does make Fleury the unquestioned top guy, if there were any doubt before.

What Ottawa Gets

Talbot's exact value as a goalie is tough to wrangle. His raw numbers looked good in Minnesota, but that has also been one of the top defensive teams over the last couple seasons, at least at even strength. He will be going from a team that allowed among the fewest expected goals against in the league over the last two years to a team that tied with Chicago. The Senators do seem to be adding more top-end talent everywhere but on the blue line, though it's still early in the summer. With their cap space and assets, they could make a big splash on the blue line. That would help his, and everyone's, fantasy value.

Without team defence improving, this could be a straight downgrade. He likely would have been the 1B to Fleury's 1A in Minnesota, but he could be the same to Forsberg in Ottawa. If Forsberg has another good season, maybe Talbot sees 30-35 starts. But again, stats like save percentage and goals against average could be a lot worse, and Talbot started nearly 50 games last year. If he's in any sort of split situation, behind a worse defence, things look much more bleak for his fantasy value. This does mean there is a viable guy to take turns from Forsberg if he stumbles at any point, more so than Gustavsson.

All told, Fleury might be the biggest beneficiary to this move, fantasy-wise, in 2022-23.  

Who This Helps

Marc-André Fleury

Who This Hurts

Filip Gustavsson

Cam Talbot

Anton Forsberg