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Originally Posted by Fan in Exile
You can do whatever sophistry and mental gymnastics you want to try to convince yourselves that Smith is actually playing just as well as Rittich and Rittich hasn't proven he can carry the load and Peters has things just right...
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“Sophistry”? “Mental gymnastics”? I’m just looking at the games, the results, and the numbers over a stretch of the last several weeks. They pretty clearly show two goalies who have not been great, but also not been bad. More to the point, they have played fairly evenly.
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The fact is if we rely on Smith, it will blow up in our face. Treliving has done a lot of great things as GM but he absolutely does not get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to goalies. He has failed there time after time after time. Peters also does not get benefit of the doubt on goalies. This organization's stubborn faith in Smith is misplaced just like our misplaced faith in Elliott caused our last playoff run to end prematurely.
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The Flames have compiled their best regular season record in 30 YEARS. That buys as much benefit of doubt as there is for the coach and the GM. I think people misconstrue “moderately higher confidence” for “stubborn faith.” Simply put: the organization is more confident in the better seasoned, more experienced goalie who has played several years as a starter and has played playoff games than they are in the young, first-year NHL starter. The decisions made about Smith have just as much to do with ensuring that David Rittich succeeds, but they are ultimately about team success. To think otherwise is ridiculous.
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really hope the Flames do right by Rittich. He has a future. Smith does not. If we leave it to Treliving to go find another two goalies, I have no confidence whatsoever he does things right this time.
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I don’t know why people keep bringing up the first point, because it is nonsense. The Flames are fighting for a Division title; the future beyond this season should not really be much of a factor at this point of the year. Whether or not Mike Smith has a future with the team does not change the fact that he is part of the team now, today, next week, and in the playoffs.
As for Treliving, this has been his weak point in an otherwise stellar performance of team construction. It can take a LONG time to build a championship team; if this is the only hole left for him to fill after five years in the job, then I think that is quite impressive.
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