Mike Smith Leaves Islanders Game with 1 sec

[sureLoss]

Wills says Smith was put on IR and won't be eligible to play tomorrow.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Wills says Smith was put on IR and won't be eligible to play tomorrow.

Doesn't that mean he will miss the next 2 games? I can never remember the min.length of ir

[getbak]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

Doesn't that mean he will miss the next 2 games? I can never remember the min.length of ir

Just one week retroactive to the date of the injury. Smith could play on Monday if he's healed.

[Alpheus]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

Doesn't that mean he will miss the next 2 games? I can never remember the min.length of ir

Seven days. Next game he could play would be Vegas next week.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Har-Calgary

Maybe he did have Rittich slotted to play in this game already, it really doesn't matter, pretty dumb thing to argue about.

I just think it's an easy thing for GG to say now that Rittich has to start and kudos to him, I'd probably do the same. Helps downplay the situation and maybe gives Rittich an extra jolt. Just like how it was easy for him to downplay the whole Jagr situation and kept calling him day to day even though he knew for about a week or even longer that Jagr was done with the team. Again, I don't blame him, this is what coaches always do, they keep quiet or say whatever they will to downplay situations. Regardless, it's a non-issue. Should have no bearing on how people view GG as a coach.

Glad to see Smith is ok, hopefully he's back soon!

Exactly A good rule of thumb is to take absolutely everything athletes, coaches, GM's say to the media with a huge grain of salt. Maybe GG realized they would have to play Rittich a little more and this game was a possibility. And maybe it motivated him. Who knows. Who cares.

Believing that coaches don't speak the whole truth to media is not due to outright hatred of GG.

I wish we had Mr. Spock around to calculate the odds of Rittich's first start in a non back to back scenario would be the game where Smith was injured and couldn't play.

[Phaneufenstein]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Exactly A good rule of thumb is to take absolutely everything athletes, coaches, GM's say to the media with a huge grain of salt. Maybe GG realized they would have to play Rittich a little more and this game was a possibility. And maybe it motivated him. Who knows. Who cares.

Believing that coaches don't speak the whole truth to media is not due to outright hatred of GG.

I wish we had Mr. Spock around to calculate the odds of Rittich's first start in a non back to back scenario would be the game where Smith was injured and couldn't play.

I kind of agree with you, and will take it further.

I think teams will straight up lie about injury status especially when it's:
1) Important player
2) Latter parts of the season / playoff race

I'm totally speculating based on a gut feel: I don't think we'll see Smith until the week after next or later, and it is a groin injury.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Exactly A good rule of thumb is to take absolutely everything athletes, coaches, GM's say to the media with a huge grain of salt. Maybe GG realized they would have to play Rittich a little more and this game was a possibility. And maybe it motivated him. Who knows. Who cares.

Believing that coaches don't speak the whole truth to media is not due to outright hatred of GG.

I wish we had Mr. Spock around to calculate the odds of Rittich's first start in a non back to back scenario would be the game where Smith was injured and couldn't play.

FWIW, Wills said that Rittich was already slated to start because Smith had a bad record against the Bruins.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

FWIW, Wills said that Rittich was already slated to start because Smith had a bad record against the Bruins.

I did look up Smith's stats vs. Boston last 3 years and they were God awful.

[Toonage]

So its 7 days retroactive to the game he was hurt, so technically Smith could be back against Boston on Monday but his past record against the Bruins likely means he sits that one out so he probably won't play until Wednesday @ Vegas. I get that right?

[442scotty]

If Rittich keeps playing the way he has I wouldn't be surprised if the flames gave Smith lots of time to rest and heal for the stretch run ahead

[Classic_Sniper]

With Mike Smith’s injury, we should start thinking about lightening up his load when he’s back, especially at home. I said this in the other thread, but when you look at his home and road splits. On the road, he’s been a terrific .944 sv% goaltender allowing 1.97 GAA. At home though, he’s a very underwhelming .905 sv% goaltender allowing 2.90 GAA. I say rest Smith more, give Rittich the bulk of the home games and play Smith for the road games where he’s absolutely dominant.

[Textcritic]

^
In think so long as Smith's starts are limited to under 65-games, then he will be fine.

It is safe to assume that Rittich will play the next two home games, and even if he only gets the remaining three back-to-back starts the most Smith could play the remainder of the season is 66-games. I think Rittich will probably get an additional three games plus the back-to-backs down the road, which would put Smith comfortably at 63-games.

[Strange Brew]

At this point, I care less about Smith's workload than his health. His injury forced the Flames hand so let's just hope it's nothing lingering, or nothing new pops up.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

At this point, I care less about Smith's workload than his health. His injury forced the Flames hand so let's just hope it's nothing lingering, or nothing new pops up.

Agreed, but I am pretty encouraged by Rittich's performance. He looks totally capable of plugging-in for Smith and not missing a beat.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Agreed, but I am pretty encouraged by Rittich's performance. He looks totally capable of plugging-in for Smith and not missing a beat.

Agreed. Not like it's unprecedented for a relatively unproven goalie to carry a team to playoff success.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Toonage

So its 7 days retroactive to the game he was hurt, so technically Smith could be back against Boston on Monday but his past record against the Bruins likely means he sits that one out so he probably won't play until Wednesday @ Vegas. I get that right?

Except to factor in that Rittich just lost to Boston (though I thought he was fine).

[jlh2640]

Let Smith rest until he is 100 percent

[JohnnyTitan]

I wouldn't mind seeing the Flames win on Saturday vs Florida and then giving Gillies a shot on Tuesday vs the Bs.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by JohnnyTitan

I wouldn't mind seeing the Flames win on Saturday vs Florida and then giving Gillies a shot on Tuesday vs the Bs.

I don’t know, I think he needs to wait until next year at this point. Unless a playoff spot is clinched or out of reach.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by JohnnyTitan

I wouldn't mind seeing the Flames win on Saturday vs Florida and then giving Gillies a shot on Tuesday vs the Bs.

Unless you clinch playoffs, you ride Rittich until Smith is ready.

If they clinch with a couple games left then you can throw Gillies a bone.