Quote:
Originally Posted by IliketoPuck
I disagree that Smith didn’t let in any soft goals.
The third goal is an easy stop if Smith challenges the shooter and is out at the top of his crease. The fourth goal is a nice shot, sure, but that is all Kuznetsov had to shoot at, since the Flames defender was laid out on the ice taking away the low shot. If smith is square to the shooter and just stands up that’s off his shoulder into the corner. Instead he’s down early, deep in his net, and hugging his post awkwardly at a poor angle.
Smith let in four goals. Two were stoppable and one occurred because he went out to play the puck and caused a scramble. Let’s call a spade a spade. The guy isn’t an nhl caliber goalie anymore. Full stop. This you need both your goalies going to be successful narrative is bs and keeps giving smith opportunities that he hasn’t earned. If you want a second competent goalie, fine. But it isn’t going to be smith. He’s shown over the course of an entire calendar year that he is what he is at this point.
Smith needs to be on the pine for the foreseeable future. And the Flames should trade for mcElhinney or someone else who is reasonably competent to backup rittich.
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Even your first example, the explanation you needed to get into to sell it as a weak goal shows that it wasn’t that bad. And for the 4th PP goal, where the Flames completely broke down and Smith gave the shooter nothing but the toughest spot to hit and the shooter pulled of the great shot is his fault. If you think that goal means Smith isn’t NHL caliber then you must really hate Rittich’s game cause he’s been letting in that sane goal but way worse in almost every single start he’s had prior to the break.
The problem is hyperbole. Is Smith playing great...no. Is he a tire fire right now and not even an NHL caliber backup...no. If he was our starter, we’d need a different option. I think it’s at the very least debatable on whether we need a new back up, cause I’m not convinced an upgrade is out there that doesn’t cost to much. I’m very open to getting one, but the “we must get rid of him at any cost narrative” is just so dumb. He still wins more than he loses and if he remains our backup he still gives us a chance to win must nights abd we shoukd still leverage him to rest Rittich appropriately.