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Old 12-24-2018, 01:16 PM   #413
Textcritic
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ped View Post
I suspect the reason most people have an issue with Smith is that the Flames keep trotting him out as if they're trying to get him to fight through this.


Obviously that's changed a bit of late, but the fact is, he's played more games than Rittich at this point.


Rittich is a great story. And obviously he's not ready to play 70 games a season, but as you point out, when the Flames had terrible backups before, they didn't play them unless they absolutely had to.
And historically speaking, how has that turned out?

The number of starts that Make Smith continues to receive at this point is less about getting him going, and more about carefully managing the Flames's goaltending situation overall. There is a reluctance to play Rittich a lot because he has never played a lot. Not at ANY point in his professional hockey career. There is a recognition that even with Rittich playing as well as he is the Flames will need to manage his playing time with a view to a long post-season. There is a recognition that Smith will need more than just a game every three weeks to stay in game shape. There is a recognition that Smith will likely win as many games as he loses.

I suspect that the situation is subject to weekly review, and that these decisions are never as definitive as a number of fans wish them to be.
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