Bobby Bevilacqua

The trade has finally happened. Cam Talbot is now an Edmonton Oiler, and will take over their starting goalie duties for next season. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.

The long awaited Cam Talbot trade has finally taken place, and like many expected, he will be wearing Oilers’ orange and blue next season.

It was expected that Glen Sather was pushing to get a first round draft pick for Talbot after Robin Lehner fetched the 21^st overall pick for the Senators, but he was unable to do that, with Talbot remaining a Ranger until today.

The Oilers finally completed the trade with the Rangers, acquiring Cam Talbot to be their starting goalie of the future. In return, the Rangers received a second round pick (57), a third round pick (79^th), and they swapped seventh round picks with Edmonton, moving up to the 184^th pick.

The Rangers wound up trading the 57^th pick to the Washington Capitals for the 62^nd and 113^th picks.

If the rumors from the past few weeks are true, with some saying that the Rangers were offered a first round pick or multiple second rounders, than this is a bit disappointing. But if you think about it, three picks is a pretty solid return for a backup goalie.

With the newly acquired draft selections, the Rangers selected Swedish right winger Robin Kovacs (a Hagelin-type prospect), WHL defenseman Sergey Zborovskiy (listed the Rangers as a favorite team and McDonagh as a favorite player), and finally, WHL center Brad Morrison. With the 184^th pick, they selected 6-foot-3 Slovakian goalie Adam Huska.

Welcome to #NYR Robin Kovacs pic.twitter.com/xBnaOySO8R

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) June 27, 2015

Welcome to the #NYR @BigZborovskiy Sergey listed NYR as 1 of his fav teams and Ryan McDonagh as his fav player! pic.twitter.com/NoYCOa3EBY — New York Rangers (@NYRangers) June 27, 2015

Welcome to the #NYR organization @Bmorry_90! pic.twitter.com/yCrdTycgmG

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) June 27, 2015

This was a move that the Rangers almost had to make. Talbot would have served as a backup next year, and with Henrik Lundqvist signed long term, Talbot was not going to be a starter in New York barring injury. Also, at the age of 27, it’s not fair to Talbot to have him waste away on the bench. He deserves to start somewhere, and he will be the starter for Edmonton.

The Rangers were able to turn a good free agent signing into three prospects, which is really impressive from a management standpoint. Talbot wasn’t going to be here for long anyway, so bringing in three prospects for the future is a good move on Sather’s part.

However, I do thing that he overplayed his hand a bit here. If the rumors are true, the Rangers were offered a first round draft pick and two second round picks on separate occasions. But Sather believed he could get more, and waited too long. That was a mistake on his part. He got a bit greedy, and it potentially cost the Rangers some higher picks.

In the end, this was more that everyone initially thought that Talbot would get in return. Three picks (later turned into four) allows to Rangers to stockpile more prospects and prepare for the future. Overall, not a bad return.

Good luck in Edmonton Cam!