Talbot Fills the Hole. Whether That's Enough Is Another Question.

Columbus signed Cam Talbot to a one-year contract Monday, and the move does what it was supposed to do: there is now a second goaltender in the building with meaningful NHL experience. Talbot is 39 and this will be his ninth franchise, which tells you something about both his durability and his market. He is a journeyman at this stage, but a functional one, and functional was exactly what the Blue Jackets needed.

Three days ago I wrote that Greaves was opening camp with no one behind him. That's no longer technically true. What is still true is that Merzlikins has no return timeline from his August shoulder surgery, which means Talbot isn't depth insurance — he's the actual backup, possibly for a while. Columbus is now asking a 39-year-old and a young goaltender on a fresh three-year deal to manage the net together until Merzlikins is ready, whenever that is.

Greaves earned the contract and the starting role. The question was never his ceiling. It's the workload math if things go sideways — a long stretch of games, a Greaves slump, a minor injury — and whether Talbot at this point in his career can absorb those starts without costing the team points. That's not a knock; it's just the reality of what a one-year deal with a 39-year-old ninth-team veteran actually is. Columbus needed a body and got one. The rest they'll have to figure out in October.