[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I personally don't think it is an especially useful skill to have in the NHL. I mean, yes, goalies need to know what to do with the puck when they get it, and they need to be quick and decisive about it. That is what I want to see from David Rittich.

But what seems particularly inconsequential to winning is a goalie's individual puck skills, play, passing, movement, etc. In the time Mike Smith—an exceptional puck-playing goalie—was here in Calgary, there were a handful of times that his stick skills made a positive impact on the game, and also a few times where it cost the team goals. I also heard management and some of the players talk about how this skill minimized the number of times they took hits to make plays along the boards in the defensive zone. That all sounds good, but after the playoffs a poster on this site—I think it may have been Frank Metamusil—made a rather compelling argument for how Smith's puck-handling also had the unintended consequence of slowing Flames defensemen down in their own zone, and actually contributed to more passive play and turnovers. I went back and looked at the games with this thought in view, and I think he's right.

So, like I said: I don't think puck-play skills are all that valuable for a NHL goalie. Give me a goalie who makes simple, decisive, non-event plays with the puck every time, and I will be happy.

The Flames themselves tracked this internally and the first year Smith played in Calgary, they estimated it saved defensemen from getting hit/rubbed out over 400 times during the season. That is a great help to those guys and allows for much fresher/less injured bodies at seasons end.

It matters...a lot.