The Detroit Red Wings need more league-average goaltending.
Good help is often hard to find.
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The best help a team can get is goaltending -- ask the Detroit Red Wings.
The organization has enjoyed playing in front of Chris Osgood, Jimmy Howard, and Terry Sawchuk. However, they have not had excellent goalies for many years.
Enter Cam Talbot.
The veteran netminder has been the best goalie the team has had in several years. However, they need another goalie who is at least league average because Talbot can't play every game.
Cam Talbot Is In a League Of His Own
It's obvious to state that the Red Wings' best goalie this year is Talbot. The eye test and numbers back this up.
Talbot has the best save percentage (.914) and the second-best goals against average (2.78) among all four goaltenders who have played this year. Sebastian Cossa is the only goalie with a better GAA (goals against average). The trouble with that is Cossa has only played one game.
According to MoneyPuck, Talbot has 9.7 Goals Saved Above Expected. This means that based on various factors, such as shot location, type, and distance from the net, Talbot has prevented more goals from reaching the net than he should have. He is ranked seventh among all NHL goalies in this metric.
Of all the metrics available, this is one of the best for assessing goaltenders.
Everyone Else Is Below Average
Looking at the same statistics for Alex Lyon, Ville Husso, and Sebastian Cossa paints a vivid picture:
According to Hockey Reference, the average GAA and SV% in 543 games played this season are 2.83 and .900, respectively. That means that Talbot is above average in both statistics, Husso is below in both, and Lyon and Cossa are close.
With Cossa's small sample size, it's tough to suggest that he could be the full-time backup to Talbot. But at this point of the season, does it hurt to give him a sizeable run to see what he can do?
The Red Wings need more help for Talbot. So far, that has been hard for them to find.
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