Cam Talbot Should Be Ready to Play Thursday vs. Flyers

The Detroit Red Wings’ decision to return Sebastian Cossa to the Grand Rapids Griffins Wednesday means Cam Talbot is likely healthy enough to play against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.

The Flyers are 17-1-1 against the Red Wings in Philadelphia over the past 27 years. Detroit’s one regulation win came in 2022.

“We’re hoping to have Talbot for tomorrow. We’re going to see how he responds from (Wednesday’s) practice; haven’t got that report yet,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “Alex Lyon will still be a couple days away.”

NHL teams don’t often provide specifics about player injuries, but Lyon hasn’t played since Nov. 25 and Talbot has been missing from the lineup since Dec. 1. The Red Wings are 1-2-2 since Talbot was injured. Ville Husso started four games in Talbot’s absence, but couldn’t produce a win. Rookie Cossa stepped in a relief role Monday to deliver the only win on a 6-5 shootout triumph.

What Cossa Learned

He returns to the first-place Griffins who have four important road games over the next week. Presumably, Detroit prospect Carter Gylander would go back to the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye.

Lalonde was asked in Wednesday’s press gathering if he had a message to Cossa about his brief time in Detroit and his first NHL win:

“What an experience,” Lalonde said. “Obviously, the games helped, but the process over the games and being around, getting to know teammates, you can’t get much more of a pinnacle or high in his game but you can see, watching his game back, he did look a little rattled in there, he had trouble finding pucks, but got the job done. Watching the NHL last night, it kind of put it in perspective when Vancouver’s goalie comes back, and he’s an All-Star, and he’s talking about how overwhelmed he felt and how fast it was, and this is an NHL All-Star, so you can just imagine what it felt for Cossa having to play at that level. And they’re a really tough team to play against. They didn’t produce a lot of offense but when they did it was Grade A and there’s elite players. I just think this will be a huge step in his development.”