Indeed, he sure went down like a sack of bricks in his Flame debut. Hope Smith's goes better than this, although he has been known to fall to the ice somewhat like this before:
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"This has been TheScorpion's shtick for years. All these hot takes, clickbait nonsense just to feed his social media algorithms." –Tuco
Not sure if it's been asked, and I'm internet lazy. What goalies will be free agents when Smith's contract is up? Goalies 33 and under.
Some notables (age in 2019 in parentheses):
Sergei Bobrovsky (30)
Semyon Varlamov (31)
Cam Talbot (31)
Michal Neuvirth (31)
Marc-Andre Fleury (34)
Pekka Rinne (36)
Jimmy Howard (35)
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"This has been TheScorpion's shtick for years. All these hot takes, clickbait nonsense just to feed his social media algorithms." –Tuco
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Everyone else. They were either retired, or couldn't play enough games, or couldn't maintain the average.
You completely missed my point. You have listed the number of goalies that played 45 games and got league average save percentage. Great. The question is: how man played 45 games and had worse than league average save percentage?
From the sounds of your post, I am guessing the answer is none?
All you have shown is that each year (at each increasing age) there are fewer of them. In other words, you have shown that there are fewer 40 year old goalies than 35 year old goalies. Thanks tips.
It doesn't matter how many there are, what matters is: are they still getting the job done? And all of the goalies you listed are still getting the job done.
Now, if you can show that 35 year old goalies that play at least 45 games have a lower save percentage, on average, than goalies under 35 that played 45 games, that would be a useful stat.
But all you showed is that there are fewer goalies playing at higher ages.
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A simple question I like to ask after a trade is: did this trade make the team better?
IMO, the Flames are a clearly better team today than yesterday. So that's good. But what was the cost of said improvement?
Roster players? Nope. None.
Prospects? A 2nd and a prospect they are concerned about being able to sign. A prospect that I think ranks between 3rd and 5th among defensive prospects. I would put Andersson and Kylington ahead of him for sure. Others might argue for Fox as well. Kulak may not have as much upside, but is further along. So not a huge price IMO.
Did it hurt the cap? $4.25M for a starter is pretty good. Arguably very good. Had they re-signed Elliott, that is probably the ballpark where he would have come in (assuming he didn't #### the bed in the playoffs and they subsequently re-signed him). And Smith can play more games, taking pressure off the backup position.
What about term? I like Bishop, but 5 or 6 or 7 years scared the hell out of me. Mason? Maybe 4 or 5 years? Raanta? Probably similar. With Parsons and Gillies in the system, my preference was a shorter term. That was one of the big benefits of Fleury and Smith. Two years is perfect. And Fleury would have cost more, both in terms of prospects and cap hit.
So he improves the team, and the cost doesn't hurt them in any key way.
To me, that makes for a winning trade. Is it a Hamilton-esque homerun blockbuster? No of course not. But not every trade is going to be a homerun.
Treliving improved the team a little yesterday. Good enough for now.
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If Treliving was looking for a stop gap goalie, one who has been a number one, why didn't he just get Halak?
The guy has put up equal numbers to Mike Smith over the last few years, is younger, and would have cost nothing.
Because Halak has absolutely sucked in his career against the Oilers. Don't know how many times I've seen Halak stone the Flames and then the next night completely craps the bed against the Oilers. Smith is the anti-Halak. He always stoned the Oilers and looked mediocre against the Flames.
__________________ Are the Oilers trying to set a record for most scumbags on the payroll??
Cheap flames. Management believes they can just go on bargain hunting and dumpster diving until they become a contender. Bollig. Colbourne. Johnson. Smith. Brouwer. Etc etc
Cant believe how many deluded, overly optimistic homer fans have a crush on treliving the 'wizard' who signed gio for a decade, gave brouwer basically 5 million. Signed hiller johnson and elliott. 2 of 3 are castaway last chance saloon goalies. Johnson had 1 half decent year in buffalo as a backup who came in due to injury.
The amount of times this ownership and management group has sold the fans snake oil is incredible. At the ebd of every season we are 1 or 2 pieces away. Every summer those 1 or 2 pieces are terrible additions. We are always stretching to sign some loser who isnt wanted by 95% of the league.
How ####ing hard is it to acquire youngish pre-apex players. Versteeg Brouwer Elliott was our attempt at solving our problems last off season.
We are off to a good start now shipping out a top ncaa d man for a 60 year old below average goalie on a big contract. We just love a project player. The underdog.
#### it lets re-rebuild. Unless you really think this team can build a contender with half of our cap space committed to useless 30 something year old bums who have never won anything in their lives.
The problem here is the market. We as fans want a good team every year. We go through goalies coaches gms defencemen forwards etc like nothing else. We are opposed to silently sucking for 3 or 4 years and collecting assets.
Id rather finish last for 5 years and have a good team than finish 14th for the next decade and watch a group of b list nhlers pretending to earn their huge salaries.
If were going to suck...lets suck. Lets be a cap floor team with top 5 picks.
We suck...but we are almost at the cap for the next 5 years. Ironically this management group has no intellectual honesty. Putting a cheap low quality product on the ice and billing the team as a playoff contender.
The worst part about it is the homers with the rose tinted glasses. Oh but at least we have johnny. Oh remember how cheap we got Hamilton? Monahan is toews. Parsons will be our goalie of the future. Backlund > crosby because advanced stats. The coaching staff is awesome. Trust me brouwer will be great for us, hes huge, strong and scores goals. Elliott is actually the best goalie in the league in the past 5 years during the regular season according to these random stats!
Theyve already started putting their stupid spin on things...smith is just holding the fort for 2 years untill our 5 goalie prospects are ready. Earned not given. Hickey wouldnt have signed.
The problem is the market. Great passionate fans can be a blessing and a curse. A blessing becauae they support the team really well no matter what. A curse because they can be tricked by management every season into thinking this is the season they sneak in as an 8 seed and win the stanley cup with giordano brouwer and elliott/smith.
Look at most of the good teams in the league. They quietly sucked for about a decade. Hawks. Pens. Blues. Caps. Etc etc. Canadian markets ruin hockey teams. Every year is our year. Every coach has to be fired. Every young player is a bust who needs to be traded. There is no patience. No long term goal. Just a short term goal of selling season tickets and merch, varely making the playoffs and being swept in the first or second round by a much better team. RINSE. REPEAT.
yaaay. GO FLAMES GO.
So just to be clear, in short the Flames are cheap because they over pay old guys?
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I remember the year well. Did you watch Smith that year?
Six years ago, bro.
Six years ago Jason Spezza was a top 5 point producer.
Six years ago Brian Elliot was a top statistical goalie.
I understand the point you are making, but it's the nitpickiest of the nitpicky to talk about an awards snub from 6 years ago to justify a position on a player's quality today.
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His point still stands. He's never been nominated for the Vezina.
17 NHL GMs voted that year that Mike Smith was one of the top 3 goalies in the league. Not sure how much more clear I can be. That's over half the GMs in the league
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Six years ago Jason Spezza was a top 5 point producer.
Six years ago Brian Elliot was a top statistical goalie.
I understand the point you are making, but it's the nitpickiest of the nitpicky to talk about an awards snub from 6 years ago to justify a position on a player's quality today.
Depends whether you believe goalies at age 35 can still be at the top of their game. I happen to believe goalies in excellent shape can often still play at a high level at that age. There's lots of historical data that shows it's possible
As for Elliott I think we've all figured out he was an adequate goalie who played on a powerhouse STL. Totally different than Smith who has been a good goalie on a mediocre to horrible team. Apples to Oranges bro
