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

[kukkudo]

Originally Posted by Dion Phagoof

I wonder what the Flames were sending back... hmm...

The dude who scored two goals last night.

[Geeoff]

100 good posts in a row is solid. I don't think I've ever hit that mark. 10 would be a good run.

[Northendzone]

Like pucks they cloutier’s pads, these are the flames of our lives......I will hand it to smith for coming out tot he media and owning his play, but I think it is time to give rittich A string of starts and see what happens

[Jordan!]

It's hard to keep an ego like Mike Smith fuming at the end of the bench all season long..

[Tyler]

If Smith loses his job, it will be Troy Brouwer sulking on steroids. Gonna be a huge distraction all year

[Toonage]

If he's that bad, then you have no choice but to demote him. Question is - can they?

Does he have a NMC?

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

Advocating long term management and coaching is great if you have the right coach. Gulutzan wasnt that coach and Jiri (and maybe you) by that extension have a poor grasp on the game.

Different opinions arent a bad thing but it's better to remain silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

God do I wish I could dig up some old posts...

Why don't you help me out here and tell me in your opinion how I don't have a good grasp at the game. I have all day and look forward to your reply. If you can't be accurate or truthful about it I suggest you don't say anything at all.

[TheScorpion]

Mike Smith can be waived and assigned to Stockton if the Flames so wish. He can submit an eight-team no-trade list.

[Travis Munroe]

1) You don't trade Smith. You certainly don't waive him (at this point) as you owe him the respect of handling this as a professional if you want to attract future RFAs.

2) It is time to give Rittich the ball for 4-6 games and assess whether you think he has learned from last years stretch where he faltered.

3) Tre is all over the phones guarantee but there isn't a magical unicorn in the bush nobody else knows about.

4) You can give up on Smith for this month, hell, even next month but you dont give up on him for the season. He is better than just about anything available for free. We have all had moments in our life where nothing goes right and Smith is facing that right now. Give him some "time off" and see what happens. Players regress, they don't fall off a cliff as Smith has. I am not convinced this is the norm.

[Toonage]

Smith had April 7 - September 14 off.

His demotion would not impact the ability to sign pending free agents, IMO.

[kukkudo]

Can't just waive Smith and not find a replacement. The only name I can think of is Steve Mason as a temp solution.

[Toonage]

I'm just saying if he's made the back up, and he becomes a distraction, then you look at making that move.

[TheScorpion]

Kari Lehtonen went 15-14-3 on a bad Dallas team last year with a .912 save percentage. Bring him in, see what he can do.

[FlamesFanTrev]

Originally Posted by TheOnlyBilko

I'll just leave this here...


Marc-Andre Fleury would have waived no-trade for the Flames

NEW YORK –#Marc-Andre Fleury#can admit now he was preparing for the possibility of becoming a Calgary Flame.

He’ll even go as far as to say that had Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford crafted a deal to send Fleury to the Flames at last season’s trade deadline(2017 trade deadline), the 31-year-old goaltender would have waived the no-trade clause he has in his contract.


“I think so,” said Fleury while in New York for league meetings.

“I think Calgary is a great town and a great hockey team too. I think they’ll be very good again this year."


What could have been.....

The trade was for our pick, which was Tkachuck. Sorry, that no trade will go down as a great move over the next 7 or so years.

[kukkudo]

Originally Posted by Toonage

I'm just saying if he's made the back up, and he becomes a distraction, then you look at making that move.

We should know in the next week.

[Travis Munroe]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Kari Lehtonen went 15-14-3 on a bad Dallas team last year with a .912 save percentage. Bring him in, see what he can do.

This isn't a video game. You don't just sign and cut guys throughout the season unless it makes sense for the entire team. I am not sure playing musical chairs mid season with goalies who show no indication to be much better than what we currently have makes any sense.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by FlamesFanTrev

The trade was for our pick, which was Tkachuck. Sorry, that no trade will go down as a great move over the next 7 or so years.

Again, that article says the 2017 trade deadline. Tkachuk was drafted in 2016.

[Otto-matic]

Originally Posted by FlamesFanTrev

The trade was for our pick, which was Tkachuck. Sorry, that no trade will go down as a great move over the next 7 or so years.

Wouldn't that have been the 2017 Trade Deadline? Vegas just came into the league last season. Chucky was drafted in 2016.

If anything we'd lose Juuso Valimaki for Flower and probably Hamonic wouldn't be on the team either.

[The Cobra]

Except Lundquist could be traded for value. And he likely won't be traded anyway.

[dustygoon]

So moving on from personal attacks....the hell is going on here.

I like Smith's outgoing/veteran/confident presence. It's good for a young team.

But you can see his reaction time is slow. He compensates with flailing, waving, extreme movements on almost every shot. None of that calm "i've saved a million of these" about him anymore.

He really is done. It's not a confidence thing....the guy has plenty of that. He just got old.