[News] Flames assign Smith to Abby

[btimbit]

Pat Steinberg ‏@Fan960Steinberg 11m
#Flames assign Derek Smith to Abbotsford.

No surprises there with Russell cleared to practice

[dammage79]

Just making room for Russell. Which is a VERY good thing! Yaya!

[playmaker]

not truculent enough ?

[DOOM]

Originally Posted by playmaker

not truculent enough ?

Not good enough.

[Roof-Daddy]

Hopefully Russell can come back and be as effective as he was before the injury.

...and the Heat's blue line gets stronger.

[strombad]

I really can't wait until his contract is up. Aside from his little stint when we first acquired him, Smith has been the worst absolute worst.

[killer_carlson]

Smith is ok for what he is a #7 or #8 dman pressed into service occasionally. He is priced appropriately and brings what is advertised. If he were more reliable or more consistent we wouldn't have him as our #7 or #8 guy. But that is what we get.

I don't have a problem with Smith or what he brings on the occasional game he gets into. I wish him the best.

[sergei_makarov]

What happened to him? He was better last year. Almost looked like he'd be pushing for a permanent roster spot.

[moon]

Originally Posted by sergei_makarov

What happened to him? He was better last year. Almost looked like he'd be pushing for a permanent roster spot.

Always easy to look good in a small sample size with sheltered minutes.

Any player can have a good 10 games or so and then mix that with 10 mediocre games and he looks like a potential decent player, especially when nothing was expected from him.

Fast forward this year and people think he may be a legit bottom pairing guys and those 10 good games are 10 bad games and the 10 mediocre games look much, much worse than they were.

[sergei_makarov]

Did he only play 10 games last season? I can't remember. For some reason, I recall him playing more than that and doing some time even in the Top 4 when there were injuries and not looking horrible? Could be wrong.

Definitely seemed like he regressed from last year.

[moon]

Originally Posted by sergei_makarov

Did he only play 10 games last season? I can't remember. For some reason, I recall him playing more than that and doing some time even in the Top 4 when there were injuries and not looking horrible? Could be wrong.

Definitely seemed like he regressed from last year.

10 games was just a generic number I pulled out for the example of small sample size. I figured he played about 20-30 games last year 10 good, 10 okay. This year he has played about 10 games which I would say have been poor.

Edit: Last year he certainly seemed much better at making the safe, basic play while this year it seems he is much more prone to panic moves and turnovers.

[SeanCharles]

Smith will not be here next season..