Cam Talbot, waiting to debut with Ottawa, fondly recalls time with Wild, says he didn't want to leave

KANATA, Ontario — Cam Talbot caught up with the Wild on Thursday morning at Canadian Tire Centre, but he wasn't on the ice with the Senators come game time.

"That'll have to wait until December," Talbot said, referring to the Dec. 18 puck drop scheduled at Xcel Energy Center.

Not only did a training camp injury sideline Talbot for the first meeting between the Wild and Ottawa since their offseason trade, it also has put the goaltender's debut with his new squad on hold.

Aside from that, the transition to Talbot's sixth team in his 10th NHL season has gone well.

"This team just seems different, and you can tell there's a different mentality in that room this year after the summer that they had and then the start of the season," Talbot said. "So it's been fun to watch so far, but I don't want to watch too much longer."

Talbot was hurt in a preseason game earlier this month, getting hit by a shot under his equipment. He has been skating, and the 35-year-old hopes to get cleared to return to practice on Friday.

"It's never easy to be injured, but when you come to a new team, you're trying to integrate yourself into the team and get to know the guys and the systems," Talbot said. "Yeah, it was tough."

Although the Wild initially planned to stick with a Talbot-Fleury tandem after re-signing Fleury, General Manager Bill Guerin eventually decided to avoid an "awkward" dynamic by moving Talbot, who had expressed his disappointment at not playing more in the playoffs; the Wild started Fleury five of the six games against the Blues.

"The way it ended there, no one wanted it to happen that way, especially myself," Talbot said. "But maybe this is just where I'm supposed to be. That's kind of the mind-set you have to have."

In two seasons with the Wild, Talbot went 51-20-9 with a 2.71 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and five shutouts.

"I look back on my time there fondly," Talbot said. "Obviously, I never wanted to leave. We made some lifelong friends there that we won't forget and will continue to get together with. That part was obviously tough, but it's just one of those things I was part of a team that had a pretty special season last year and set a whole bunch of team records.

"It's hard not to look back and see that you were part of something special there. Again, just one of those things I didn't want to leave. But it's just a new chapter here."

Mason Shaw took Jost's spot on the fourth line.

In six games, Jost has one assist while roving around the lineup. He has centered the top line with Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello and worked with Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno.

"It's no different than anybody," coach Dean Evason said. "We could have chose other players. Just a position and a decision that we made."

This was Marco Rossi's first trip back to Ottawa since his junior hockey days.

Rossi played two seasons for the Ottawa 67s and became just the second European-born player to be named the Ontario Hockey League's Most Outstanding Player after leading the OHL in assists (81) and points (120) during 2019-20.