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

[memphusk]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Settle down. Try to think of Coming out of a ten day break like back to backs. They might beat Washington with Rittich, they might not. They definitely should beat Carolina with him.

By starting Smith, they go with the guy who will likely get the greater emotional boost playing in this game.

They lost. They didn't get embarrassed. It's fine.

If I was GM, I would be doing everything possible to acquire Ryan Miller.

They have to manage Rittich's minutes down the stretch. Smith is going to get into games. I wish he didn't, but they can't and shouldn't Dubnyk him and start him the last 40 games.

He can have all the emotional boosts in the world. He can't stop the puck. The numbers don't lie.

[schteve_d]

Originally Posted by troutman

One rationale I heard for his start in WAS was his stickhandking would neutralize the Caps forecheck.

His giveaways led to two goals.

What irritates me is that whoever is doing the play by play or colour, last night it was Cassie, goes on about what a great puck-handler he is. Give it up; he's brutal and I would say more often than not it ends poorly. Just stay in the God damned net.

[Flames67]

The crazy thing is that no one predicted that we would be having a season like this; with a record that can be considered NHL elite and a team that is on the brink of falling under the same title.

Having a player like Smith that is playing okay but not elite is something that is holding us back. By no means is he hot trash, and he did not single-handedly hand us that loss yesterday. But he is not up to standard on a team that has a higher ceiling than it does even now.

At the end of last season Tre said that there would be 'no passengers', I think that you have to hold yourself to that same statement and say that sorry Smith, you're not pulling the weight that we need you to, see ya.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by schteve_d

What irritates me is that whoever is doing the play by play or colour, last night it was Cassie, goes on about what a great puck-handler he is. Give it up; he's brutal and I would say more often than not it ends poorly. Just stay in the God damned net.

Well in fairness, being 'in the net' hasnt been going all that well for him either.

[FlamesAddiction]

As good as Treliving has been on most things, the Smith acquisition was objectively bad at the time and has only gotten worse. His decline was totally predictable.

[SeanCharles]

He's here for the rest of the season so the only proactive thing we could try is flippping Gillies/McDonald/Schneider with a sweetener to acquire a legit 3rd string option in the event Rittich goes down.

I don't want to relive another Elliott situation where we lose a series because our goalie couldn't make a key save ever.

I understand he is well liked and is helping Rittich develop so I don't mind him staying for the remainder of this season but I don't really want him being the guy we need to rely on.

I don't really understand the logic of him dressing yesterday either. I don't care if it would mean he would go weeks between starts, it doesn't make him any more or less sharp. He sucks, plain and simple - when I say sucks I mean he lets in one bad goal every single friggen game like clockwork and I'm sick and tired of it. Let's play Smith against the defending Cup champs, yea great idea. I know they were Ovechkin-less but I kinda felt we'd lose when I saw Smith in.

To his credit we were in the game til the last minute but I still think he let in one bad goal and it was the difference.

Peters said it was because of his puck handling helping against Washingtons forecheck but I didn't really see many plays where his puck handling helped us in any tangible way. In fact it almost cost us a goal.

Thank f@?# he is FA this offseason cause I'm sick of watching him.

[goflamesgo18]

Originally Posted by Flames67

The crazy thing is that no one predicted that we would be having a season like this; with a record that can be considered NHL elite and a team that is on the brink of falling under the same title.

Having a player like Smith that is playing okay but not elite is something that is holding us back. By no means is he hot trash, and he did not single-handedly hand us that loss yesterday. But he is not up to standard on a team that has a higher ceiling than it does even now.

At the end of last season Tre said that there would be 'no passengers', I think that you have to hold yourself to that same statement and say that sorry Smith, you're not pulling the weight that we need you to, see ya.

He is 150% HOT TRASH and nowhere near NHL calibre. His feet are cemented to the goal line and he has zero confidence. His stats say he is hot trash, and he is visually hot trash.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

As good as Treliving has been on most things, the Smith acquisition was objectively bad at the time and has only gotten worse. His decline was totally predictable.

I'll disagree with this.

The Smith acquisition, at the time, was astute. We needed a goalie with experience and we got him, salary retained.

We had nobody else to ride at the time and ride him we did.

The fact of the matter was that Smith was always going to be a stopgap, but this season that stop-gap has become a liability and needs to be replaced.

His acquisition and play wasnt bad until recently and even then hes shown himself to be adept at racking up wins against Arizona (albeit, not much else) so I dont think your statement holds.

At the moment he is well, well past his best-before date and its time to move on.

[jonkaupp]

Originally Posted by Flames67

The crazy thing is that no one predicted that we would be having a season like this; with a record that can be considered NHL elite and a team that is on the brink of falling under the same title.

Having a player like Smith that is playing okay but not elite is something that is holding us back. By no means is he hot trash, and he did not single-handedly hand us that loss yesterday. But he is not up to standard on a team that has a higher ceiling than it does even now.

At the end of last season Tre said that there would be 'no passengers', I think that you have to hold yourself to that same statement and say that sorry Smith, you're not pulling the weight that we need you to, see ya.

He absolutely, 100% and unequivically has been the definition of hot trash all year. What’s his quality starts out of 26? Like 10? Lol

[Azhouse]

No thanks on Miller

[Calgary_81]

Originally Posted by jonkaupp

He absolutely, 100% and unequivically has been the definition of hot trash all year. What’s his quality starts out of 26? Like 10? Lol

Better yet, can someone dig up his stats, starting from when he returned from his injury/madated CBA break, almost exactly a year ago ? I remember his first game back was a home game against NYI, and he sucked ever since.

[AC]

Originally Posted by calgary_81

better yet, can someone dig up his stats, starting from when he returned from his injury/madated cba break, almost exactly a year ago ? I remember his first game back was a home game against nyi, and he sucked ever since.

In 8 GP (2-6-0), he had a 0.880 SV%

[Jiri Hrdina]

Seperate from concerns over Smiths play I’m surprised people don’t see the rationale in starting him
You need to manage Rittichs starts. Overplaying him could be a huge factor in an early exit from the playoffs. So he was likely going to play against the Caps or Canes. With the early start tomorrow it’s basically back to back

[AC]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Seperate from concerns over Smiths play I’m surprised people don’t see the rationale in starting him
You need to manage Rittichs starts. Overplaying him could be a huge factor in an early exit from the playoffs. So he was likely going to play against the Caps or Canes. With the early start tomorrow it’s basically back to back

Yep, 100%.

The coaches usually take a goalie's recent success against specific teams to heart. Rittich was recently great in a lopsided Carolina game and managed to get the win.

Just like using Smith once again vs Detroit, who he had beaten a few weeks prior as well.

If we just ran with Rittich until we face an "easier" team, it would have been Feb 14th in Florida, almost an entire month after Smith's last start (Jan 18 vs DET). Like it or not, Smith is going to get games until there's a better option simply so Rittich doesn't get run into the ground.

There are a bunch of difficult matchups this month that Rittich likely gets all of: SJ, @VAN, @TB, @PIT, NYI, ANA, @NYI.

On the flip side there are some more favourable teams that Smith will likely get most of the starts against: @FLA, ARI, @OTT, @NJ (back to back).

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Seperate from concerns over Smiths play I’m surprised people don’t see the rationale in starting him
You need to manage Rittichs starts. Overplaying him could be a huge factor in an early exit from the playoffs. So he was likely going to play against the Caps or Canes. With the early start tomorrow it’s basically back to back

But who can actually say with certainty that this is true?

To me here are some hypotheses:
1) goalies can’t play 82 games because they will break down physically
2) goalies can’t play 82 games because they will have issues with consistency, or won’t be on every night, so the team will need someone to spell them off
3) goalies shouldn’t play 82 games because if you let a guy do it, and he does get hurt, then you don’t have a NHL ready guy who can step in

To me, out if these, it is #3 and risk mitigation far and away as the issue.

It’s not overplaying. It’s not number 1. Many players play 82 games and goaltending is not so much more demanding than that.

This managing workload is more likely managing risk and managing egos than anything else. 55 games is more likely an old wives tale

* But Rittich was the Carolina starter to increase chances of win in the homecoming

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

It’s not overplaying. It’s not number 1. Many players play 82 games and goaltending is not so much more demanding than that.

Uhh, that is clearly wrong. I've played both myself and being in net, it's about 3-4X the workout if not more. Goalies frequently lose 10 pounds each game due to loss of fluids. It's a ridiculous grind.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Rittich is a unique situation though based on his historic workload
Is it really smart to dramatically increase those games played? Just for a better shot at the top seed?
It’s far more important that he’s ready to go and not burned out for the playoffs

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

Uhh, that is clearly wrong. I've played both myself and being in net, it's about 3-4X the workout if not more. Goalies frequently lose 10 pounds each game due to loss of fluids. It's a ridiculous grind.

Uhh, ok. I play both in and out and have for decades. I agree that you sweat more but otherwise say you’re wrong. I say it’s 1X

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Rittich is a unique situation though based on his historic workload
Is it really smart to dramatically increase those games played? Just for a better shot at the top seed?
It’s far more important that he’s ready to go and not burned out for the playoffs

I don’t really think there is a risk of burnout, myself.

But would definitely be in favour of getting a good goalie and giving him starts. I’d look closely at how Feaster muscled out Conroy if I was Tre, and see what they can do with Smith.

[timbit]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Uhh, ok. I play both in and out and have for decades. I agree that you sweat more but otherwise say you’re wrong. I say it’s 1X

1x the level you played at over decades or 1x from being an NHL goalie?

There may be a difference.