As we await Game 6 between the Calgary Flames and the Dallas Stars on Thursday, a bit of news from The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun regarding the Flames goaltending going forward.

According to LeBrun’s rundown of the pending goaltending unrestricted free agency market (paywall), the Flames reached out to Cam Talbot’s camp before the playoffs indicating they were interested in bringing him back after his contract expires following the post-season.

Talbot, 33, was the Flames’ 1B goaltender in 2019-20’s regular season. He played more in the second half as David Rittich dealt with an elbow injury (and seemingly some fatigue from playing so much in the first half). Talbot was superb and consistent for the Flames, and has easily been their best player in the post-season.

His performance has probably merited a bit of a raise, but it’s unclear under a flat $81.5 million salary cap for the next few seasons how much of a raise and/or how long a contract the Flames would be willing to give him. (As Brad Treliving often jokes, the only obstacles to a new deal here are dollars and term). While Talbot has been excellent for the Flames, how much do they want to invest in a 33-year-old goaltender long-term?

The Flames have three goaltenders under contract for 2020-21: Rittich, Artyom Zagidulin and Dustin Wolf, with Wolf’s deal sliding next season since he will be in junior. Tyler Parsons and Nick Schneider are pending restricted free agents. Talbot is a pending UFA. Jon Gillies is a pending Group VI UFA.