[foshizzle11]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I fully expect one of either Stone or Hamonic to be traded with the emergence of a young defenseman in the next year or two.

But do you really think that the Flames coaches do not "trust" Eddie Lack? It could be, but I think it is impossible to say at this point with how the Flames' schedule has unfolded. They have played only two back-to-back games, and one of those was in Vancouver following a home game, which does not carry with it the same issues and concerns as games in the middle of a road trip. Seven of their first 15 games have taken place after at least two days' rest.

The point is, it should not come as much of a surprise to see that Smith has started 14/15 games so far with how much off time the Flames have had in between them. We will have to see what happens once the schedule gets heavier, but I will be surprised if Lack does not start to get more starts in late Nov and early Dec.

Ya, I don't know for sure about Lack and I understand the schedule thing, I just have this gut feeling. We will have to see if Smith begins to struggle at all. I just hope they don't play him like 70 games and then he runs out of gas at the end of the season ala the Oilers and Talbot.