Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
Yes, down the stretch the Flames goalies were simply not god enough, but Smith and Rittich both did play play at a +0.915 SP level for 60 games between Oct–Feb. I interpret "the better part of the season to be well over the first half, and this most certainly qualifies.
I am a firm believer that with better management of Smith's time in games 1–50, he will be better off in games 51–82 and into the playoffs. I also think that Rittich showed last season that he is able to come in, play, and win his starts in a 4:1 rotation. It seems perfectly reasonable to expect that Flames goalies will be fine with a little more balanced workload.
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I think it has to be a 3:1 rotation max, Smith playing 80 percent of the games still has him at 66 starts. I think it needs to be closer to 60 or less. I would love to see Smith with 56 starts and the backup with 26 starts, which would be closer to a 2:1 ratio.