[DeluxeMoustache]

Never mind labels such as apologists.

To me it is simple. One of the more frequent posters here argues that past W-L is a reasonable indicator of how a team will perform moving forward with Smith. And has multiple times said he doesn’t see why it wouldn’t continue. That insistence is perplexing to me as it neglects and understanding or appreciation of how those numbers were arrived at.

That poster has conveniently, of course, ignored the point that coaches speak to, that games tighten up down the stretch. I would suggest that the ability of the team to score at will to overcome softies does not project well.

As New Era illustrated (and kudos for putting in the work), Smith wins include:

Outscoring opponents despite poor goaltending
Oct 6 - 7-4 over Van
Nov 1 - 6-5 vs COL
Dec 4 - 9-6 over Jackets
Dec 12 - 6-5 OT over Philly

To me, 11-8-1 doesn’t look as though it is expected to be repeatable if you are including over a third of the wins to be of that sort.

Then there are the ‘any goalie can win this game’ games
Nov 25 - 6-1 vs ARI
Nov 30 - 4-1 vs LA

So over half of the wins he has racked up had practically nothing whatsoever to even do with the goalie.

(Contrast the Smith wins to Rittich’s 1-0, 2-0 and 2-0 losses where he stood on his head)


*I also would also not blame Smith for things that aren’t on him. For example, consider Crosby’s backhander over the shoulder. I have seen some goals where he leaves some room over his glove near the post, where people give credit to the shooter, but are on him. Conversely, this was just a goal that Crosby scores and no goalie stops.