Quote:
Originally Posted by wingmaker
Flames need Smith playing well. Period. Even if they gave Rittich more starts, they still need Smith playing well.
The guy has a starter's mentality. You give him the benefit of the doubt for at least another month. Not really that hard to understand. You are dealing with human beings. If Smith starts playing like he can, this team will be in a good spot. If he doesn't, they could miss the playoffs. You don't throw a guy out after one bad month when the stakes are that high.
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The Calgary Flames need their starting goaltender to play well, not Mike Smith. If he's going to be the guy anointed with that role, I hoped it would be based on results. Not salary, not expectations, not this long of a rope.
We already have a better option in Rittich, and until we see Smith outplay Rittich it's a dice roll I'd wish we stopped taking. I'd be downright pissed if I paid to see a home game Smith started. Especially the most recent ones where we all saw it coming. I'm getting pretty tired of letting Smith work it out as I'm watching a hockey team, not Mike's re-bound story (is it even coming?).
This may be early into this season, but he's been downright awful since last January. I don't think I need to approach a year of goaltending being an issue before I hope it's addressed.
Here's his game log:
http://www.espn.com/nhl/player/gamel...018/mike-smith
October - Yay! We have a goalie
November - Stinkers against Vancouver AND Toronto in the same month, mixed with great games against Pittsburgh, Columbus and Arizona. Confidence rising, but a wariness looms after 2 games you really wanted to win.
December - Unless Smith has a GAA under 2, we're not winning games this month. Goaltending finally isn't our problem!
January - We're scoring! And I'm legitimately scrolling NHL leaderboards to see where Smith is stacking up.
February - The rebound in Chicago was good, but I'm getting the feeling that Mike is going to need some res-- oh good, he's injured. No problem, Rittich has looked great all year!
March - After a month off, it looks like they were still rushing him back. He opened with a stinker, followed up by shutting out the Oilers, then finished the season pretty awful. It was all but over when they rushed him back, but he put the nail in the coffin himself at home in front of SJ. Another game where the team has to score 5 to win, so they lost 7-4.
For me, we have a goalie that has only shown a few months of good work, and is walking into his 2nd month of awful. I'd love for him to get back to where he left off last Christmas... but that's a pretty long "BRB" to be patiently waiting for...
I'm all for keeping our 1st round pick and having a goaltender battle in January being another feather in Calgary's cap... but until Rittich puts up a Smith-like performance in net, Rittich is your best chance to win games right now. The Kings are a great game for Smith to try and regain his starters role, as we at least have a better chance at scoring another 6 against [insert goalie here] than we do Gibson.