Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
Then his decision making is worse that I thought.
Most of the time he played the puck, there was absolutely no reason for it. It's an odd way of trying to win (leaving the net exposed to make high risk plays when the score is tied or the Flames even ahead).
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It worked well substantially more often than not.
The problem with Mike Smith's goaltending was not that he played the puck too often or poorly. The problem was that he struggled to keep the puck out of the net too often when he WASN'T playing it. I get that a lot of people were frustrated by him last year, and this is why it became voguish to complain about virtually everything he did from his on ice play, to the way he carried himself in interviews, to his fashion choices. It's an exaggerated and revisionist narrative, and as with all such fabrications it detracts from the truth.