He may not be the biggest player out there. Or the top draft pick, not even in the top 5 rounds(taken round 8 234th over all in 2002), be he has proven himself over and over again that he is built for playoff success.
10 months ago the Pittsburgh Penguins let center Maxim Talbot walk over the dark side of Pennsylvania and sign with the Philadelphia Flyers. All over a couple extra years on his impending contract. What were they thinking?!
Talbot signed with the Flyers on July 1, 2011 for a great salary of $8,750,000 over a 5 year contract. Being a lover of Pittsburgh he wanted to stay in Pittsburgh for at least three years at a mere $800,000 per season, but as the constantly faltering management of the Penguins organizing decided he was not worth it and threw him out to the NHL free agency pool.
Flyers management took advantage of this opportunity and snagged the Stanley Cup goal scoring champ right up. Talbot was responsible not only for the goal that put the Penguins on the board in the 2009 Stanley cup show down against the Red Wings he was also the Overtime goal scorer that brought the cup back to Pittsburgh, a fact that seems to slip the Penguins managements minds. This man is built for playoffs.
His best season in Pittsburgh was his 2007-2008 campaign where he was still going back and forth between the Wilkes-Barre Scranton AHL team and the big league NHL Penguins. He registered 12 goals 14 assist 26 total points and a +8 rating.
His playoff performance was better then his regular season stats even if the numbers don’t line up exactly. Not only did he win the cup in the 2008-2009 rematch between the Penguins and Red Wings he scored 8 goals, 5 assists, 13 points and another +8 rating. Considering the Playoffs are only a possible 28 games where the regular season is 82 games I think that’s a pretty damn good playoff record.
As a Flyer Talbot has an outstanding season record of 19 goals 15 assists 34 points and a +5. His playoff stats show again just how valuable he is during this time. He has scored in all three of the Flyers first round playoff against non other the Pittsburgh! He also has an assist giving him 4 points and a +5. If the Flyers make it past round one and Max keeps doing what he is built to do, play playoff hockey, he will be setting himself up to be one of the MVPs for the team during playoffs.
Max fits in so well with the Flyers. Their play and his play match up so well. They are an aggressive get things done team, and Max is a get things done kinda guy! Although I have to say I don’t like the whiney complaining that comes from its players or its coaching staff, I do appreciate that Max knows where he came from and still shows respect for the city and love for his teammates. Even if it isn’t during playoffs, come the end he will pick up the phone and him and Fleury will still be close friends. And with the management doing their own rebuild with their own break out stars it would not surprise me if a cup is in the next year or so for this team and another one for Talbot.
Might I also add that while Crosby was out with his concussion, and Malkin was out having surgery the ONLY Penguin to play all 82 games of the season was, yes, Max Talbot! Another reason he was a value to the Penguins Club!
In my personal opinion, and I know a lot of people are going to argue with me and call me an idiot, well I really don’t care, this is my opinion and my personal take on a player so just keep your rude comments to yourself. Max Talbot is built for playoffs in the NHL he never should have been allowed to be picked up by Philadelphia. Pittsburgh was stupid for letting him go. Despite the obvious thing that Pittsburgh really only cares about Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marc Andre Fleury, Max Talbot would have been one of the biggest advantages for them in this run for the cup. Yes they have Crosby back, yes Malkin had an incredible year, and yes they have James Neal, who is really coming out of his shell and rocking in Pittsburgh. But they are also down 3-0 in a best of 7 series against the Flyers where Max Talbot is shinning and has scored three goals against his former teammates.
The Penguins could have really used those three goals to be on their side coming from their playoff champ!
I see the Penguins making a comeback (which makes me happy), but if they let the very aggressive Flyers get back inside their heads they are going to lose in round 1. They will not be swept this series is going to go to game 7. The Penguins are the favorite to win the Cup this year but that doesn’t mean the other teams are going to lay down and let them take it without a fight and they need to wake up and fight for what they want and what they deserve.
So after my Penguins bash I say: Lets Go Pens come back and win!
No comments:
Post a Comment