Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
I'm not especially high on this move, but you're ignoring that for us Smith has a cap hit of 4.250M x 2Y which lines up with promoting a Rittich, Parsons, or Gillies to the big leagues naturally. Smith wasn't brought in as anything more than a cost-effective stop gap who can give you 60+ games a year.
Bringing in most of the better goalies - Raanta, Mason, Bishop wasn't an option because of this. They either got more term or more AAV.
I might have preferred Halak for the same, but who knows if they would have accepted what we paid (Brandon Hickey rights)
That left Elliott VS Smith. A case to be made for either but at the end of the day Tre probably felt more comfortable with a guy who has done the 60+ game grind to eventually split the job with one of our prospects in a year.
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They keys here are that Smith (unlike Elliott or Raanta) has proven to be a passable starter, that the salary fits within the team's cap structure, that the cost did not include any roster players or blue-chip prospects, and that the contract is for two years (which fits the anticipated development curves of our up-and-coming netminders). Smith's puck-handling skills are a little bonus that should benefit our highly-mobile defence, our transition game, our special teams and especially our already dominant overtime game. For two years, Smith should be an acceptable puck stopper, and should make those around him better due to his puck-handling skills. I'm not expecting him to be elite, but I also don't think that he has to be.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
This could turn into a home run move for Treliving if as I mentioned above, we get league average goal tending every night.
I don't think that anyone can deny that Elliot and Ocho probably cost this team 5 or 8 wins last year, especially with how horrendous they were at the start.
Even 5 more wins for this team takes them into second in the Pacific.
So I think its a good gamble.
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I would call it a more of a safe move than a gamble (trading for Raanta or Grubauer would have been a gamble, since they have not shown that they can carry the mail on a nightly basis), but I don't think there is much chance that the move could end up being a home run. On the other hand, after the last two years, league average would be OK with me.