Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
I don't know about that as not many (if any at all) of those goaltenders you listed got close to a 25+ game sample size in a single season like Smith has this season. I don't recall a Flames backup that's been as bad as Smith relative to the rest of the league. Smith now is all alone in last spot in SV% among top 50 NHL goaltenders. If not for Hiller I would say he's easily the worst goaltender over the last 15 or 20 years for this organization given the amount of starts he's received.
I guess the issue is that if Rittich slumps or gets injured before the playoffs that the team is pretty well finished as it's one thing to win with your backup but another thing to win with the worst backup goaltender in the NHL.
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Not really a fair game count, since Smith wasn't intended to be the backup. Of course he got more games in a row at the beginning of the year, plus there was that six game winning streak where Peters didn't want to switch gears.
But for reference: Berra, Ortio and Macdonald combined for 49 games (to Ramo's 40). The Chad had 36 games. Ortio had 22 games, Hiller had 26 and Ramo had 37 in 15-16. Ramo played 34 in 14-15. Macdonald had 21 games to Kipper's 24 (in the lockout season). And before that you had Kipper playing huge numbers, and burning himself out in the process.