Have to agree with the author for the most part. Except for one glaring omission. He compares Mike Smith and Brian Elliott over 'recent' seasons, which sort of makes sense. However, he doesn't mention the fact that Arizona and St. Louis were at complete opposite ends of the spectrum.
Arizona shots against over the last 3 seasons were 34.1, 31, and 33.2.
St. Louis shots against over the same period, 27.2, 29.7, and 28.4.
If you average that out it works out to be a difference of 4.4 shots per game, or 360 shots per season. I'm no stats expert but I think that's a significant difference. Seems like it's a bit of an apples and oranges comparison as the two teams were so different. How would Brian Elliott have fared playing for the Coyotes, or vice versa?
I for one think Smith will be way better than what Elliott gave us last year. Call it a hunch.
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