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

[SportsJunky]

I'm not defending Smitty's play but holy hell there are a few posters projecting their own stuff on the poor guy.

Attacking the media?
Calling out the fans?

I certainly wouldn't characterize his statements that way.

You don't like the way he handles himself, I get it, but c'mon. Ease up on the character assassination.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

...He’s never had problems calling out his teammates and yet, now that he’s been one of the worst goaltenders in the league this season while costing his team numerous points in the standings, he seems to have a hard time taking accountability and always seems defensive. Really comes off as an unlikeable guy. If we had MA Fleury and he was struggling, at least we’d have a nice guy who doesn’t come off as perpetually crabby...

I think you are reading too much into player sound bites. These sorts of interviews are entirely useless for revealing information about a player’s character and his relationship with his teammates.


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[Macindoc]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Except Hartley, GG and Jerrard did not, in fact, get jobs with actual NHL teams after being fired by Treliving.

You're right, the Oilers are not an actual NHL team.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Anyone catch the Mike Smith interview yesterday? Boy this guy just comes off as a smug, crabby *** to me. I would never defend this guy just based on the type of person he seems to be.


Some of his memorable quotes:

- "Media must be bored"
- "Like to make up stories"
- "You don’t make to where we are with poor or mediocre goaltending"
- When asked about his thoughts on the fans, said "Doesn’t care," cares about what his teammates think.
- Regarding his performance this season, the occasional bad game or 2 = "Blip in the radar"


So, he attacks the media despite a lot of them defending him all season long. Smith must be delusional or confused because the team is exactly where they are despite mediocre or poor goaltending. Statistically speaking, they're in the bottom half of the league in save% and Smith himself has been amongst the worst goalies in the entire league. Lastly, that blip in the radar that he mentioned, is actually like 70% of his season so far. He's had 2 decent stretches followed up by crapping the bed on a regular basis. How anyone still defends this guy is beyond me. Bad goaltender + bad personality.

OR, now just hear me out for a minute, he is trying to maintain a positive approach and ignore negative stories like this one.

Put yourself in Smith's shoes for a second. Ok, so you're career is winding down and you had a really rough stretch earlier this year, so much so that you lost your starting job for a significant duration of time. That's a significant shot to a player's confidence, especially one who rides on confidence as much as Smith seems to. You can see the difference in his play from when he's confident to when he's not. I would wager that Sigalet's job is to maintain his confidence as much as possible so he plays better. All players are affected by a lack of confidence to varying degrees, Smith just seems to be affected by it more than most.

So he creates a narrative that isn't 100% truthful, but it helps him to maintain some steady play in net rather than completely crap the bed. So be it. It makes no difference how he gets there, as long as he plays okay.

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

He attacked the media on 2 occasions. Called the fans out after the Minnesota game and called out his team multiple times last year. Was not a fan of the way he conducts his interviews last year and in seasons past in Phoenix, but this season he’s been considerably worse in front of the mic

He’s never had problems calling out his teammates and yet, now that he’s been one of the worst goaltenders in the league this season while costing his team numerous points in the standings, he seems to have a hard time taking accountability and always seems defensive. Really comes off as an unlikeable guy. If we had MA Fleury and he was struggling, at least we’d have a nice guy who doesn’t come off as perpetually crabby.


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Citation please? I cannot remember any significant instances where Smith blames everything on the other players. He may describe what happened in the game appropriately, but no more so than any sports writer would characterize what happened. This is a narrative that Coyotes fans have ascribed to him, but I've yet to see an egregious offense in this regard.



I agree with others in that I feel like we are looking for reasons to hate Smith rather than give him a pass with how he's handling criticism. It's a tough spot to be in, so if he's a little defensive, I get it. I'm not going to stress about his comments. I want to see how he plays on the ice. That's mostly what matters to me. If his defensiveness leads to him playing with focus and drive, and that ends up leading to a hot streak all the way through a playoff run? Well I'd be just fine with him barking at every reporter along the way.

[GioforPM]

Against Minnie, with the behind the net screwup, posters said he was staring Hanifin down. Well, maybe, but isn't it as likely he was just talking to him about the play and maybe where he thought Hanifin was going, to improve the communication? Unless people were posting from behind the net or there was a closeup I didn't see, I think people are seeing what they want.

[Toonage]

^ Considering you can't really see a goalie's mouth in his mask, yes.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Toonage

^ Considering you can't really see a goalie's mouth in his mask, yes.

This was at the bench when he had his mask off. He was doing most of the talking but like GioforPM was saying he could have very well just been discussing the play and telling Hanifin where he thought he was going instead of giving him ####.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Toonage

^ Considering you can't really see a goalie's mouth in his mask, yes.

I think it's quite likely that Smith was surprised on that play by Hanifin joining him behind the net. Usually Hanifin would go to the corner to get the chip pass. I think Hanifin thought the Wild player was closer to Smith than usual though, so he went to get the puck himself.

If there had been a good option the other way (was it Hamonic?) the whole play goes differently.

[Toonage]

Sorry if I misunderstood. I thought he was accused of staring him down behind the net immediately after the play, in which case how could anyone tell he was talking to him. But if it happened at the bench I suppose its open to interpretation.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Sorry if I misunderstood. I thought he was accused of staring him down behind the net immediately after the play, in which case how could anyone tell he was talking to him. But if it happened at the bench I suppose its open to interpretation.

No you had it right. I think people were talking about right after the play.

TBF, there were times when it was pretty obvious, even with a mask, that Patrick Roy was giving his D the stinkeye.

[David Struch]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Maybe they will defy the odds.

Who's the worst goalie to win the Stanley Cup?

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by David Struch

Who's the worst goalie to win the Stanley Cup?

Niemi
At least in my view.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Niemi
At least in my view.

Osgood wasn't great. Neither was Billy Ranford.

[TheScorpion]

The answer is Mike Smith.

I'm from the future.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by David Struch

Who's the worst goalie to win the Stanley Cup?

Ward and Niemi have to be in the conversation.

MAF is a great goalie. But when he won in 09 he was having a pretty meh year.

[TheoFleury]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Ward and Niemi have to be in the conversation.



MAF is a great goalie. But when he won in 09 he was having a pretty meh year.

Ward was really good for a bit there. Not sure what happened to him.

[TheScorpion]

Ward aged. He won the cup 13 years ago now.

[Geeoff]

Originally Posted by David Struch

Who's the worst goalie to win the Stanley Cup?

When Hasek won the cup with Detroit, he had declined a lot. Granted, he was arguably the best goalie ever in his prime, so there was a lot of room to decline

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Ward aged. He won the cup 13 years ago now.

I still don't think, compared to other teams's goalies that won, that he is up there. His numbers, even when younger, are pretty average. Plus, the year he won, his season wasn't very good. Gerber was actually the starter for 2/3 of the regular season games, and had better numbers.

I never thought Osgood was that great, either. Khabibuhlin looks, by the numbers, to have fallen off a cliff after 04, but TBF, he went from TB to horrible teams in Chicago and then , as soon as they started to be good, he goes to the Oil.

[Erick Estrada]

960 playing an interesting interview between Jermaine Franklin and Smith right now. Smith seems to think the goaltending has been fine and the media is making stuff up. Doesn't care what the fans think and sounded generally frustrated by the questioning.