{"id":488826,"date":"2026-04-22T08:17:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T12:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=488826"},"modified":"2026-04-22T04:33:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:33:15","slug":"detroit-red-wings-goalies-were-the-ultimate-up-and-down-group-in-2025-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/04\/22\/detroit-red-wings-goalies-were-the-ultimate-up-and-down-group-in-2025-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Red Wings Goalies Were the Ultimate Up-and-Down Group in 2025-26"},"content":{"rendered":"

Detroit Red Wings goalies John Gibson<\/a> and Cam Talbot<\/a> never seemed to be the ultimate dynamic duo in Hockeytown. Each enjoyed their moments, but they rarely looked good simultaneously. This resulted in Gibson getting a ton of work and burning out down the stretch<\/a>, while age caught up with Talbot.<\/p>\n

Detroit Red Wings Goalies Were an Inconsistent Duo<\/h2>\n

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Credit Image: \u00a9 Anthony Nesmith\/Cal Sport Media<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the inconsistent play from both netminders, there is hope in Hockeytown. Few organizations are as deep at the position as Detroit, thanks to Trey Augustine<\/a>, Michal Postava<\/a>, and Sebastian Cossa<\/a> enjoying fine seasons in college or in the AHL.<\/p>\n

Augustine finished another legendary campaign at Michigan State while Postava and Cossa helped lead the Griffins to an unforgettable season. Even if neither Talbot nor Gibson are the long-term answers, the Wings have an incredible outlook in the crease.<\/p>\n

Of the trio, Cossa will likely get the nod to move up in 2026-27. Postava will be starting just his second season in North America while Augustine will get his first extended look at professional hockey. Cossa, meanwhile, will have come off of a trio of outstanding seasons in Grand Rapids.<\/p>\n

2 – Cam Talbot<\/h3>\n

Sooner or later, age was catching Cam Talbot. Early in the year, he held the fort down for the Red Wings while John Gibson struggled. Between October 9th and November 22nd, Talbot went 9-2, with an .899 save percentage and a 2.66 goals-against average. He looked like an ageless wonder and the presumed number-one goaltender if Gibson kept struggling.<\/p>\n

His success was short-lived, and Talbot went 3-7 the rest of the way, posting an .874 save percentage and a 3.50 GAA. Even as Gibson\u2019s play dramatically improved following a rough October and November, Talbot couldn\u2019t provide insurance or relief. That was yet another factor behind the Red Wings most recent epic collapse between March and April 2026. His poor play lost the coaching staff’s trust, and it forced them to play Gibson.<\/p>\n

Talbot\u2019s numbers at the end of the season reflected his inconsistency. He wound up posting an .883 save percentage, a 3.19 GAA, and zero shutouts. That made 2025-26 one of his worst campaigns. With Sebastian Cossa and Michal Postava looking like NHL-ready commodities, Talbot has played his final game with the Red Wings. He\u2019ll either retire or serve in strictly a backup role for a team whose netminder can handle a 60-65-game workload.<\/p>\n

1 – John Gibson<\/h3>\n

For a good month and a half, every Red Wings fan held their breath. General manager Steve Yzerman gave up a second-round pick, a fourth-round pick, and Petr Mrazek<\/a> to acquire Gibson, and Gibson repaid that effort with a historically bad showing over the season\u2019s first two months.<\/p>\n

Between October 9th and November 30th, Gibson garnered just an .865 save percentage, a 3.59 GAA, and a 4-7 record. A letdown after Gibson looked like he turned things around in his final season with the Anaheim Ducks.<\/p>\n

December 1st through April 15th was another story, and Gibson posted a 25-15 record, a .912 save percentage, and a 2.45 GAA. He shut out opponents four times in that span, and looked like a Vezina Trophy-calibre<\/a> player. It was one of the more remarkable turnarounds. But with Talbot\u2019s pedestrian play as the season went on, the Wings had no choice but to rely too much on Gibson.<\/p>\n

He appeared in 19 of the Red Wings final 22 games, unable to bail out a team fading down the stretch<\/a>. Still, his effort and turnaround earlier in the season solidified him as the number-one goaltender for 2026-27 while either Cossa or Postava will rise through the ranks to play in a backup role. Overall, he finished 2025-26 with a 29-22-4 record, a .901 save percentage, a 2.72 GAA, and four shutouts. If he gets adequate help in 2026-27, those numbers may even get better.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Detroit Red Wings goalies John Gibson and Cam Talbot never seemed to be the ultimate dynamic duo in Hockeytown. Each enjoyed their moments, but they rarely looked good simultaneously. This resulted in Gibson getting a ton of work and burning out down the stretch, while age caught up with Talbot. Detroit Red Wings Goalies Were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5796,"featured_media":484078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,4547,4548],"tags":[1119,123,8290],"class_list":["post-488826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-redwings","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-cam-talbot","tag-john-gibson","tag-trey-augustine"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5796"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488826"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":489069,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488826\/revisions\/489069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}