Mike Smith's... woes? He blows? Eating crows? Who knows! (Also David Rittich exists!)

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Agreed.

Before acquiring another goalie, I think we have to give Gillies a shot.

Remember, Rittich fell apart last season and was awful in pre-season. Sometimes it’s just about timing and opportunity. Philly tomorrow would be a good chance to give Gillies a go.

Rittich ‘fell apart’ like every goalie for the Flames once Gully was dead man walking. Due to odd man rushes and no commitment to team D. I watched every painful game.

Stockton’s top D are up here now as well.

There is more to life than sv%

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Agreed.

Before acquiring another goalie, I think we have to give Gillies a shot.

Remember, Rittich fell apart last season and was awful in pre-season. Sometimes it’s just about timing and opportunity. Philly tomorrow would be a good chance to give Gillies a go.

Just as much of that faltering down has to be on the team as well. Gulutzan was a complete disaster and the team completely quit on him. Rittich was not good but you've got to give him the benefit of the doubt this year when he's sporting top ten starter numbers in the league this far into the season.

If you can get a backup at a reasonable cost, you do it but I'm not giving up anything major for a bigger name if I'm Tre considering the fact that we might actually have a legit starter in Rittich.

[CalgaryFan1988]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Sure, give Gillies an opportunity. There really isn't much to lose at this point (besides Gillies' confidence if he gets lit up). But at this point it's a hail mary. The guy is rocking a .864 SV% in the AHL this year - he doesn't even crack the top 50 in the league. So Gillies has actually been playing worse in the AHL than Smith has been playing in the NHL. Maybe he plays better against NHL shooters than AHL shooters, but I doubt it.

I haven't followed Stockton at all, but I'm guessing Gillies is facing a lot of high quality scoring chances on a nightly basis. Their defence is pretty terrible and having their top 2 in Calgary is probably a good reason as to why.

In pre-season Gillies actually looked better than Rittich IMO. You just never know with goalies.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Rittich ‘fell apart’ like every goalie for the Flames once Gully was dead man walking. Due to odd man rushes and no commitment to team D. I watched every painful game.

Brodie was trade fodder for picks, Gio on the decline, Monahan didn't care about winning, etc etc.

Gulutzan sucked worse than Smith does this year.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by CalgaryFan1988

I haven't followed Stockton at all, but I'm guessing Gillies is facing a lot of high quality scoring chances on a nightly basis. Their defence is pretty terrible and having their top 2 in Calgary is probably a good reason as to why.

In pre-season Gillies actually looked better than Rittich IMO. You just never know with goalies.

It's now or never for him at this point anyway. I'd say give him 2-3 starts and see what happens. He can't possibly do any worse than Smith and if he does much better, great. Bye Bye Smith.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by schteve_d

Who is San Jose's third string goalie right now, I wonder?

Some nobody named Kiimma Pikrusoff. Not worth it.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Examples?

For starters, Rittich's numbers last year and this year are better than his last time in the A.

Price (albeit a pretty short AHL run). Rinne. Rask. Luongo. Howard.
All pretty pedestrian in the AHL.

I know there's plenty of good goalies in the NHL with good AHL stats too. I just think sometimes it doesn't relate. Plus, as people have said, Stockton is pretty depleted defensively.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

It's now or never for him at this point anyway. I'd say give him 2-3 starts and see what happens. He can't possibly do any worse than Smith and if he does much better, great. Bye Bye Smith.

Why is it now or never for Gillies?

Rittich is two years older and is only now figuring out how to be a full time NHL goalie.

Listening to Wills on the radio this morning is nauseating. Not only do we have Stockton's two best defensemen, we also airlift anyone who shows the capacity to score more than two or three goals up to Calgary for extended periods. So Stockton presumably has a ton of trouble defending and a ton of trouble scoring. The goalie doesn't have a part in either.

At this point, it doesn't matter if Gillies comes in and gives up 3 a game so long as they're honest goals. Mike Smith lets in bad goals at the most inopportune times. He's 37. Gillies at least has the excuse that he's young.

All Nick Schneider seems to do is impress when he gets into games. Give him a few looks. When Ryan Miller comes back, Anaheim will likely waive Chad Johnson. Claim him/trade a 7th for him.

There are 41 games left. The Flames really only need to cobble together 10 starts from their backups; that'll put Rittich at 53 GP for the season, leaving him with lots of gas for the playoffs.

Mike Smith can't be starting games for this team anymore. .409 quality start % after last night, compared to Rittich's .650.

[dammage79]

People thought that about jack Campbell too. now or never. He's rounded into form somewhat on a bad LA team.

[Johnny Makarov]

What would the Islanders want for Greiss? No longer the #1 with Lehner playing great and the majority of the games.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Rittich ‘fell apart’ like every goalie for the Flames once Gully was dead man walking. Due to odd man rushes and no commitment to team D. I watched every painful game.

Stockton’s top D are up here now as well.

There is more to life than sv%

I'm not in any way taking a shot at Rittich. The team fell apart as a whole last year, but you can't excuse Rittich from that. He let in some softies in that stretch, but his drop in play was a team-wide issue. This year, pre-season came up, and it was honestly a coin flip between Gillies and Rittich. Rittich got the nod, and has seized the opportunity.

Smith no longer deserves an opportunity. He can't stop low quality shots consistently enough for the team to win. Giving Gillies a chance could result in him storming onto the scene just like Rittich has. At this stage, I think it's more likely that Gillies outperforms Smith than vice-versa.

[442scotty]

Frankly we’ve all had enough of Smith. Give Gillies a game and see what happens. Give Schneider a call up. He’s risen to the occasion before and might be the tonic the team needs. It sure as hell ain’t Smith. But the team really needs to get back to playing better D. They have really fallen off in their own end

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Why is it now or never for Gillies?

Rittich is two years older and is only now figuring out how to be a full time NHL goalie.

Listening to Wills on the radio this morning is nauseating. Not only do we have Stockton's two best defensemen, we also airlift anyone who shows the capacity to score more than two or three goals up to Calgary for extended periods. So Stockton presumably has a ton of trouble defending and a ton of trouble scoring. The goalie doesn't have a part in either.

At this point, it doesn't matter if Gillies comes in and gives up 3 a game so long as they're honest goals. Mike Smith lets in bad goals at the most inopportune times. He's 37. Gillies at least has the excuse that he's young.

All Nick Schneider seems to do is impress when he gets into games. Give him a few looks. When Ryan Miller comes back, Anaheim will likely waive Chad Johnson. Claim him/trade a 7th for him.

There are 41 games left. The Flames really only need to cobble together 10 starts from their backups; that'll put Rittich at 53 GP for the season, leaving him with lots of gas for the playoffs.

Mike Smith can't be starting games for this team anymore. .409 quality start % after last night, compared to Rittich's .650.

I heard his segment as well and was shaking my head the whole time. For whatever reason, Wills and Loubardias have this unconditional love for Mike Smith like he's their son or something. I get that he's a veteran guy and they've probably become very attached to him, but call a spade a spade here. He's been the worst NHL goaltender in the league this season and the rest of the league knows it and game plans around that. Pinder already called out Wills yesterday on their daily round up and I'm sure it'll only ramp up later today.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

I heard his segment as well and was shaking my head the whole time. For whatever reason, Wills and Loubardias have this unconditional love for Mike Smith like he's their son or something. I get that he's a veteran guy and they've probably become very attached to him, but call a spade a spade here. He's been the worst NHL goaltender in the league this season and the rest of the league knows it and game plans around that. Pinder already called out Wills yesterday on their daily round up and I'm sure it'll only ramp up later today.

Willis and Loubardias have to work with these guys every day. They can't really be objective about it if they wanted to. So they try to put lipstick on a pig.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Wills is nauseating at the best of times.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Royle9

I think we're all on the same page here, some posters just get more emotional when it comes to expressing their feelings but lets not turn on each other if we can help it. Everyone expresses emotion different, we're all die hard fans of the flames for the most part so lets stay on track and not stoop down to Edm level fanboys.

1. Smith's time is done, lets get that straight.
2. We all know he will NOT be here next year.

Now for this year, sure we need to try and find a replacement but its not going to be easy because Smith is going to NEED to be part of any deal we make as we cant afford to bury him in the minors and still be on the hook for 3.5 mil.

• Our cap space is not ideal, Tkachuk will be up for roughly 7M raise next year giving us very little room to make a big "splash" unfortunately.
  
• Given our prospect depth I personally don't want to give up our 1st rounder this year unless the return nets us a player between 18-24/25 at most with skill NOW.
  
• Its safe to say Flames management know we're in trouble, I think Tre is actively working the phones and hoping to find something and I have faith he will but its the cost that worries me. Someone posted a trade with St.Louis that seems "okay" at a distance but long term I'm not sure I like it.

Smith + Frolik + 1st for Schenn and Allan - To me this is an "all in" move to try and win a cup this year. Not totally against it but not sure I like having to give up a 1st, I'd prefer a 2nd or 3rd and maybe a prospect with "upside" but that may not be enough.

Its tough, we need to do something if we want to go far in the playoffs here but finding that "perfect" trade is going to be a huge challenge. I feel if we do see one it will be a Tre deal out of left field that nobody knew was possible.

I don't think that gets the deal done at all. Blues still need a #1 for next season. Smith and Frolik have arguably negative value. So the first is the only thing that matter.
You are likely adding Kylington, Andersson or Valimaki to any deal to get Schenn alone, let alone getting Jake added.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I don't think that gets the deal done at all. Blues still need a #1 for next season. Smith and Frolik have arguably negative value. So the first is the only thing that matter.
You are likely adding Kylington, Andersson or Valimaki to any deal to get Schenn alone, let alone getting Jake added.

Frolik doesn't have negative value. He's a good value asset on a team with little room to slot him in elsewhere. He's still a very good PK player. He's just been slotted out by a great PK thats scored 13 goal SH goals (he potted one of them the other day though)

[Royle9]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I don't think that gets the deal done at all. Blues still need a #1 for next season. Smith and Frolik have arguably negative value. So the first is the only thing that matter.
You are likely adding Kylington, Andersson or Valimaki to any deal to get Schenn alone, let alone getting Jake added.

I totally agree, just quoting another posters "offer" and even at what it was I wouldn't do it. I surely wouldn't throw in Andersson or Valimaki as well but that's just me.

Further reason I don't like the trade, doesn't make sense for St.Louis but a solid favor if they accepted

[TheAlpineOracle]

Can’t we bury Smith’s salary in the AHL or are we stick with it for as long as he remains our property?

[CalgaryFan1988]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Why is it now or never for Gillies?

Rittich is two years older and is only now figuring out how to be a full time NHL goalie.

Listening to Wills on the radio this morning is nauseating. Not only do we have Stockton's two best defensemen, we also airlift anyone who shows the capacity to score more than two or three goals up to Calgary for extended periods. So Stockton presumably has a ton of trouble defending and a ton of trouble scoring. The goalie doesn't have a part in either.

At this point, it doesn't matter if Gillies comes in and gives up 3 a game so long as they're honest goals. Mike Smith lets in bad goals at the most inopportune times. He's 37. Gillies at least has the excuse that he's young.

All Nick Schneider seems to do is impress when he gets into games. Give him a few looks. When Ryan Miller comes back, Anaheim will likely waive Chad Johnson. Claim him/trade a 7th for him.

There are 41 games left. The Flames really only need to cobble together 10 starts from their backups; that'll put Rittich at 53 GP for the season, leaving him with lots of gas for the playoffs.

Mike Smith can't be starting games for this team anymore. .409 quality start % after last night, compared to Rittich's .650.

Originally Posted by dammage79

People thought that about jack Campbell too. now or never. He's rounded into form somewhat on a bad LA team.

As far as the "now or never" comment. Correct me if i'm wrong, but next season doesn't Gillies have to clear waivers to remain Flames property? And his contract at the end of next season is up.

To me, the "now or never" comment is Gillies time as a Flame is coming to an end if he doesn't show anything soon (within a year). His career? Who knows with goalies.