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NHL Notebook: Former Edmonton Oilers goalie Cam Talbot seeks Jack Campbell contract, BCHL’s Pentiction Vees post league best record and more

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Photo credit:Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Zach Laing
11 months ago
Former Edmonton Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot is reportedly seeking a new contract paying him similar to current Oilers goalie Jack Campbell.
According to TSN 1200’s Dean Brown, the Ottawa Senators have reportedly had discussions twice with Talbot and he’s seeking a deal paying him roughly $5-million.
Talbot, 35, has appeared in 32 games this season for the Senators posting a 15-14-1 record, a 2.85 GAA and a .905 save percentage. Brown noted that if that’s the asking price, then the club should move on and look elsewhere. It’s his first season with Ottawa after his public falling out with the Minnesota Wild, where he had spent two prior seasons.

Vees cap off historic season

The Pentiction Vees have had quite the 2022-23 regular season, and capped it off last Sunday night with a 4-2 win over Salmon Arm
The Vees finished the season with a staggering 50-3-0-1 record with their .935 points percentage being the best in BCHL history. It bested their own record, which belonged to he 2011-12 Vees. They went 54-4-2 posting a .917 winning percentage. in the regular season.
This year’s version, however, were tremendous. Seven players on the team over a point per game as brothers Bradly and Josh Nadeau, both of whom are committed to the University of Maine for next season, led the way.
Bradly finished the regular season with 45 goals and 113 points in 54 games, while Josh scored 44 goals and 110 points of his own. Rookie Aydar Suniev blew the doors off with 45 goals and 90 points, too.
There are strong NHL bloodlines on the team. Jackson Nieywendyk, son of Joe, finished the regular season with 20 goals and 41 points in 51 games and is off to the NCAA’s Canisius College, while Joshua Niedermayer, son of Scott, scored five goals and 25 points in 46 games. He’s off to the Arizona State University next season.

Maccelli for Calder?

One player who is flying under the radar in the Calder Trophy conversation this year: Matias Maccelli, writes Daily Faceoff’s Mike Gould.
Oilers fans got a look at the rookie in the last week as he scores two goals against Edmonton Monday and added an assist last Wednesday.
Here’s some of what Gould wrote about Maccelli:
Maccelli ranks first among all Calder Trophy-eligible players with 33 assists. Only Seattle Kraken center Matty Beniers ranks ahead of him on the rookie point-scoring leaderboard.
But here’s the thing: Maccelli missed 18 games due to an injury earlier this season. While Beniers has 50 points in 71 games, good for a 0.70 points-per-game pace, Maccelli has 43 in 57 — enough to put him in the rookie scoring lead on a per-game basis.
Looking at Natural Stat Trick’s per-60 stats, Maccelli and Beniers are virtually neck-and-neck. On average, they’ve both scored 2.2 points per hour at 5-on-5 this season. Where Maccelli has a wide edge is on the power play, where he’s generating 6.6 points per 60 — nearly double Beniers’ rate.
Generally speaking, it’s easier to be a 22-year-old winger in the NHL than it is to be a 20-year-old center. Beniers will almost certainly win the Calder Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top rookie, in a landslide vote this spring. He’s earned it with his play.
But the story doesn’t end there. The Calder winner is determined collectively by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, with each voter listing five players on their ballot. Beniers will take the top spot on many of them, but places No. 2–5 are very much up for grabs.
Maccelli deserves to be a finalist. He’s the best passer in this year’s rookie class (and it’s not particularly close). He exhibits incredible poise with the puck on his stick. Through 57 games this season, he’s racked up assists at a greater rate than Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and nearly everybody else in the league.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.

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