Darren Haynes posted an article on The Athletic that opens the door for a fresh palette to talk about our goalie woes, as he has great analysis to work from. We've heard everything from trading Smith to giving him time to find his game, but in either case it's become quite clear that winning is more difficult with Smith in net right now. He did put a bit more rope in front of him in SJ, so the timing is a bit unfair - but we can only hope that is a turning point right now as we can't assume yet that his poor start is behind him.
The article is here for everyone who has access:
https://theathletic.com/649635/2018/...ichs-workload/
Darren re-watched every goal this season and rated the goals based on difficulty, while factoring in the impact that goal had on the game. I won't post the conclusion stats and spoil the article, but it unsurprisingly didn't look good for Smith. We knew Rittich was playing better than Smith but having a goal-by-goal breakdown that factors in how backbreaking Smith 'finding his game' has been is pretty telling that it's time to start Rittich if we want to win games. I think we all felt this watching the games, but it's interesting to see a listed breakdown of what impact their performance has had in games this year.
Peters is a smart guy, so hopefully the 2nd and 3rd in SJ don't cloud his memory of how that game was lost in the first place. It'll be interesting to see on Thursday (what a schedule...) who gets Montreal and who sees Edmonton on Saturday. I don't think they'd be ready to start Rittich both games - but I am worried that they are still thinking Smith gets both the way this has been trending.
What do we think the chances are that Smith is out of rope and Rittich gets both starts? We play the Golden Nights Friday, which would be a great place for Smith to start again - but that would mean anointing your young goalie the more critical starts to try and win those games. Everything Peters has shown with the skaters tells me he's not afraid to do it, you just have to wonder when.