Call it sensationalism if you must. Or knee jerk.
On the other hand, here are some facts
- Smith is 37. Nobody beats Father Time
- He has not consistently played well since January. (!)
- The team is a hair short of a quarter of the way in to the season and he has already cost them several points
- Smith has been the worst starting goalie in the NHL this year. That is alarmingly bad.
Many athletes get injured, never fully recover from that injury, and have to retire. Is that a possibility that it is what we are witnessing?
It appears he has built up some currency in the Treliving bank account, which has earned him the opportunity to work out of a funk. But he hasn’t been able to do that. Maybe Treliving is afraid Smith will yell at him too, like he does with the rest of the team. Who knows.
But is there actually any argument in favour of keeping Smith, and not finding a way to cut ties, that is not primarily based on hope? And do you want an organization having hope be the strategy?
Don’t get me wrong, maybe it is sensationalistic as you say. But there is no real strong evidence that the team would be better with Smith than with pretty much any other goalie period. Just hope. So they should be at least seriously looking at a different option.
Sometimes hope pans out. Sometimes veterans reach the end of their career and the body can’t do what the mind thinks it can.
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