Quote:
Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder
Look at the teams smith has beat in his last starts.
LA. Not Good
Chicago. Not Good
Columbus. Not Good that night
Smith still looks shaky in net, has little to no rebound control and flails at pucks and has been lucky to have them hit him. The team is winning in spite of smith to my eye test not because of him.
You could say that fluky save on anisimov saved the game but why on earth was he so out of position to require a back heel save in the first place.
He flounders around out there
Some of us just think Rittich should get a bit more leash than what Smith gets. Especially considering if Smith plays anything more than 40 games in the regular season he is likely too gassed to do anything in playoffs... He is old and we need to look to the future.
Rittich has had one bad start, and against columbus he was terrible, but how many times did peters go right back to smith earlier this season even after he gave us a start like that??
|
Rittich's game against Dallas wasn't good either, or was that the bad start you were talking about?
There are 54 games left and Smith has started 16 so far. You are worried he can't play 24 more games? Maybe you should worry a bit about how Rittich has never played more than 33 games in a NA pro season. Only over 40 once in the Czech league. Last year he only played 33 games combined NHL/AHL.
I think Rittich can handle a tandem assignment. I think Peters may be worried about a repeat of last year, though, when Rittich was thrust into a starting role for which he wasn't ready.