When Marc-Andre Fleury signed a two-year, $7 million contract with the Wild on July 7, it led to candid discussions between Talbot and general manager Bill Guerin. The 35-year-old
was then traded
to the Senators for goalie Filip Gustavsson on Monday.
"For me, there's no hard feelings," Talbot said Thursday. "I said at the end of the year I wanted to be back, I expected to be back. But again, things happen over the summer between Billy, myself, my agent and just talking about stuff like that and the plan moving forward. Maybe it was just best to move on a little bit. So unfortunately, it didn't work out.
RELATED: [Talbot traded to Senators by Wild]
"I have no ill will or anything toward Minnesota. They gave me an opportunity to be a starting goalie again in the League, and I can't thank them enough."
Talbot was the Wild starter until Fleury was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks on March 21. Fleury started the first five games of the best-of-7 Western Conference First Round, a six-game loss to the St. Louis Blues. Talbot said he is embracing a fresh start in Ottawa, where he'll be paired with 29-year-old goalie Anton Forsberg. He was 32-12-4 with a 2.76 goals-against average, .911 save percentage and three shutouts in 49 games (48 starts) last season, and has one season remaining on a three-year, $11 million contract ($3.67 million average annual value) he signed with Minnesota on Oct. 9, 2020.
"I'm just looking forward to get into Ottawa, meeting the group and whatever kind of role that they want me in is how I'm going to play," Talbot said. "But obviously, I want to still play. I think that I've got a lot of good hockey left me and I could still play upwards of, you know, 50-55 games a year. That's what I'm going to push for, but you never really know how a season is going to play out.
"It's a long year with a lot of travel and you never know how things are going to go, but I still want that as much as possible. And I hope it's going to be a good relationship between myself and [Forsberg]."
Talbot is a native of Caledonia, Ontario and said he is pumped to be playing in his home province. He recalled growing up watching with his dad, Mark, the Battle of Ontario games between the Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs on "Hockey Night in Canada" and said he remembers iconic Ottawa players such as Daniel Alfredsson, Marian Hossa and Wade Redden.
As for playing in the spotlight of a Canada-based market, Talbot said previous stints with the Edmonton Oilers (2015-19) and Calgary Flames (2019-20) taught him what to expect.
"There's not much more of a pressure-packed situation than what I had in Edmonton, with the expectations with Connor (McDavid) and Leon (Draisaitl) and (Milan) Lucic there," he said. "I think that's prepared me for obviously playing in other markets in Canada."
The acquisition of Talbot was part of a busy week for the Senators and general manager Pierre Dorion. They traded for forward Alex DeBrincat (Blackhawks) and signed free agent forward Claude Giroux to a three-year, $19.5 million contract, the type of moves Talbot said has him excited for what's ahead.
"I think it sends the message that the rebuild is probably coming to an end and they want to make a push," Talbot said, obviously making a trade for DeBrincat and going after Claude yesterday and, from what I hear, hopefully they're not done making moves yet. I think that it rewards their young core that's been building for a few years that maybe now's the time to take that next step.
"I'm happy that they chose me to come in, and hopefully be a part of it and lead them back to the playoffs."
