You may have completely missed this given there are a number of bigger issues sitting on the table for the Boston Bruins right now, but Max Talbot took to Twitter on Monday night to deny that he’d ever demanded a trade out of Boston.
In the aftermath of the Bruins sending a 2017 third round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for hard-hitting center Zac Rinaldo on Monday afternoon, rumor started to quickly spread on Twitter that Talbot had requested a trade from the Bruins.
Presumably it was because Talbot was penciled in as the fourth line center once Gregory Campbell had moved on from Boston, and now the former Penguins/Flyers/Avs energy guy would have competition for playing time with the younger, rougher-around-the-edges Rinaldo. Well, that couldn’t be any further from the truth.
Talbot took to his personal twitter account a few hours later, and sent out a quick, unmistakable denial that he’d ever wanted to be moved. If one actually thinks about it, it would be pretty ridiculous for a fourth line forward to go around demanding trades when their playing time gets a little challenged.
Here’s what he wrote:
Talbot was traded to the B’s from the Colorado Avalanche in the deal that sent Jordan Caron to the Avs last spring, and finished with three assists in 18 games for the Black and Gold to finish off the season. In all the 31-year-old Talbot had five goals and 18 points in 81 games for the Avs and Bruins last season, and is flexible enough to play center or wing on the fourth line for this upcoming season in Boston.
Both Talbot ($875,000) – with Colorado picking up the other half of his price tag as part of last spring’s trade -- and Rinaldo ($850,000) have the kind of manageable cap hits that the Bruins are looking for in their fourth line players.