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Originally Posted by burnitdown
I'm worried we're heading down the same path as last year. Smith plays well early so we keep riding him while he's hot (which some posters already pointed out his brutal post-SO stats)...and before you know it, he's on pace to play 70 games at the end of November.
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This is not exactly what happened last year. What happened was that Smith had a great start, and then after nine starts in 20 days with a four-day break in between Eddie Lack looked alarmingly inadequate to play. Had he played well I am of the belief that Smith would not have played so many games in October and November last year.
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Smith is one of the oldest starting goalies in the league and he's very injury prone and IMO, we should be planning to start him 55-60 games max. It's important to get Rittich/Gillies in every 3rd or 4th game early in the season, while the games have less pressure. As the season progresses, the temptation to stick with Smith will only increase as the playoff battles pick up.
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I agree about Smith's workload, but starting the backup goalie in every third or fourth game in October is just not realistic. I think Rittich gets three games this month, and that's a good start.