Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
I think this is key, and when people raised concerns about this element in Smith's game during the playoffs I started to see the position differently.
My problem was not with Smith's play of the puck—he is EXTREMELY good at it, and very rarely ever made mistakes. The problem is not Smith—the problem is how the defence responds to Smith's puck-play. The game probably slowed down whenever Smith played the puck, in part because Flames defencemen were never in such a hurry to get to the goal-line if they never had to, but also perhaps because it gave the Flames defense too much time to overthink plays when they were anticipating the pass from Smith.
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One challenge I saw with Smith’s puck handling (and which was more painfully evident during Gulutzan era) was where the time Smith took would slow down the breakout, and give the opponent time to get in a good defensive posture. Not Flames overthinking, more so slowing the transition.
A second challenge was not ‘mistakes’ so much in the sense of flubs or direct turnovers, as the ultimately unproductive passes to, say, Tkachuk, alone at the far blue line when 4 Flames were in the D zone and 3 opponents close on Tkachuk and force the turnover.