Quote:
Originally Posted by transplant99
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.
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I too question the stat. But the prevention of the ringaround dump in and a smart medium length pass to a D is a great skill and it helps the team. What people are saying, I think, is that the long bomb pass up ice is not that helpful. Cool that he can pull off a pass that long, but the recipient is almost always standing still (because it's a good pass but not like a D's) or it misses, and in any event the recipient is all by himself with no support. It's probably a possession killer, not an enhancement (much like the stretch pass).