Quote:
Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist
I'm not sure it's a fair comparison when 16 of Smith's 19 playoff games were in his career high year six seasons ago. He's 35 now and there aren't many 35 year old good goaltenders out there...
Backstrom was great, until he turned 35. Kipper retired at 36.
Do we really want 2 years of a goalie trending down (35-37 year old years) at ~$5M? When there's limited cap space?
|
Goalies don't have to trend down at that age. Hasek played into his 40's didn't he? Lundqvist still going strong in his mid 30's. Kiprusoff chose to retire when he did, he didn't look like he was tending down.
I know why people might be pessimistic about the age but saying he MUST decline due to age is presumptuous.