The entire team was pretty awful for the first few months of the season and the Grossmann experiment pretty well sealed the deal for the Oilers in game one. Flames were one of very few teams to lose to an Oilers backup goaltender last season. Clearly the Flames need to be better prepared next season for the battle of Alberta.
Trigger warning please
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I don't mind the acquisition, although I say that as someone who was very excited that we got Elliott last year and thought he would be the answer.
Smith has starter's pedigree, a big frame, and from what I can tell an athleticism and competitive nature that Elliott conspiciously lacked. The biggest variable with Smith and the only thing keeping me from being over the moon is his age, here's hoping that his athleticism and "low odometer" keep that factor at bay for a while.
Overall though I think BT did a good job, the length of the contract is perfect for one of our three young goalie prospects to grab the net by the end of it. The last thing we needed was to rush any of those guys and not let them get their reps in, they need to be starting 40+ games each in the minor leagues.
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I'll take Smith's consistently average play over a full season vs. Elliott's hot garbage -> god mode -> even hotter garbage. God mode is probably an exaggeration as well, he still let in some softies during the run but the whole team was firing on all cylinders which helped him out.
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Elliot's good stretch happened to be when the team was playing out of their minds and anybody could have picked up a ton of those wins
Maybe I was sour on him because of the beginning of the year but I was never confident in Elliot. Hell, the last few games of the streak he was just plain bad. The Winnipeg game in particular comes to mind
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Elliot's good stretch happened to be when the team was playing out of their minds and anybody could have picked up a ton of those wins
Maybe I was sour on him because of the beginning of the year but I was never confident in Elliot. Hell, the last few games of the streak he was just plain bad. The Winnipeg game in particular comes to mind
That's not exactly true as his stats over February and March were amongst the best in the league in that timespan. Three months into the season the guy has around a .886 save percentage so it took a lot more than the winning streak to get his save percentage all the way to up to .910. The Flames play dropped off after the winning streak ended and they never really did get back in gear again but I don't fault the goaltending as consistency was a team wide issue. The team needs to be more consistent and less streaky because you can't expect your goaltenders to steal games when you aren't playing well for weeks at a time like the Flames were last season.
Warrener on 960 this morning had a little tidbit in that he messaged with three guys that used to play with Smith and it was said he blames his defensemen for miscues so maybe not a guy that's universally loved by players.
Warrener on 960 this morning had a little tidbit in that he messaged with three guys that used to play with Smith and it was said he blames his defensemen for miscues so maybe not a guy that's universally loved by players.
I hate when goalie's do this, it's a bad look. However, Henrik Lundquist is probably most known for this among current NHL goalies. He can play for me anyday. Stop the puck 92 times out of 100 and I don't care what you do.
I hate when goalie's do this, it's a bad look. However, Henrik Lundquist is probably most known for this among current NHL goalies. He can play for me anyday. Stop the puck 93 times out of 100 and I don't care what you do.
I hope he talks a lot and gives his defense #### when they deserve it. Keeps guys focused. Remember (I think the playoffs) when Bartkowski fired it up the boards right to Getzlaf? And he took forever to do it? Smith maybe takes care of that before it ends up in the back of the net.
Like the trade, 2nd rounder is to high. Happy they retained some salary. And we all had doubts Hickey was gonna sign. Not sure what kind of player he will become yet even.
Elliot's good stretch happened to be when the team was playing out of their minds and anybody could have picked up a ton of those wins
Maybe I was sour on him because of the beginning of the year but I was never confident in Elliot. Hell, the last few games of the streak he was just plain bad. The Winnipeg game in particular comes to mind
How would you define Chad Johnson's stretch of hockey last year? Was the team also playing out of their minds?...You're cherry picking. The two go hand in hand almost exclusively.
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The most important criticism seems to be choosing Smith, who we had to give up assets for, over Mason who could have been signed. Mason, is by some, a much better statistical goalie.
Obviously we will have to see for who and what Mason signs for but its a bold move by Treliving.
To anyone saying that the Flames are taking half measures. What exactly would you call trading for an established #1 goalie over taking a risk on a young unproven backup? Flames have gone full measure here. They decided that the assets they would have had to trade for a young unproven guy were more valuable and that the established goalie will be a fixture in the crease for the next two years.
No matter what way you spin it, Smith is still a stop gap solution for the Flames. I have trouble calling that full measure. The window is now open for this team to start competing with the heavyweights in the conference and you can't do it with a continuous revolving door in the crease.
I would have sold the farm to land a goalie that projects to be a starter for the next 4-5 years rather than bank on a question mark journeyman for the second year in a row. Expecting prospects to pan out in a couple of years is not realistic either when the Franchise has been unable to develop any at the position, practically ever.
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Last edited by Hot_Flatus; 06-20-2017 at 08:58 AM.
No matter what way you spin it, Smith is still a stop gap solution for the Flames. I have trouble calling that full measure. The window is now open for this team to start competing with the heavyweights in the conference and you can't do it with a continuous revolving door in the crease.
I would have sold the farm to land a goalie that projects to be a starter for the next 4-5 years rather than bank on a question mark journeyman for the second year in a row. Expecting prospects to pan out in a couple of years is not realistic either when the Franchise has been unable to develop any at the position, practically ever.
This is simply not true. He has been a legitimate #1 for years, was on the last Olympic team, and has been with the same team for the last 6 years (2 teams in 10 years).
Also, the idea that the current prospects won't develop because the team hasn't developed a goalie in the past, is some seriously flawed logic.
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No matter what way you spin it, Smith is still a stop gap solution for the Flames. The window is now open for this team to start competing with the heavyweights in the conference and you can't do it with a continuous revolving door in the crease.
I would have sold the farm to land a goalie that projects to be a starter for the next 4-5 years rather than bank on a question mark journeyman for the second year in a row. Expecting prospects to pan out in a couple of years is not realistic when the Franchise has been unable to develop any at the position, practically ever.
It's been stop gap after stop gap since Kipper retired. Given Smith's age I don't think anyone is under the impression that he's anything but a stop gap. Given the circumstances though I don't know what else Treliving could do. He did try to get Murray from the Penguins when he was in the AHL before he became a big name so he at least has a good read on goaltenders. If the it was between the Oilers and Flames for Talbot that Sather would have ensured the Oilers got him. MAF doesn't want to play for the Flames. Should he have tried harder to get Darling? Maybe. Grubauer or Raanta IMO were boom/bust in that if they couldn't handle the starting job it may sink next season so there were risks no matter what.
The team really has to ensure that Gillies or Parsons is on the roster next season as backup as they need to move forward with their own drafted/developed guys as even after Smith the team likely will have to sign/trade for a 1A/1B type of goaltender to compete with a goaltender from within for the starting job.
Elliott was awful for most of the season, his best games happened to coincide with the best games from the team in front of him.
Johnson's 10 game streak or whatever it was happened to coincide with some of the worst team games in front of him if I am recalling things correctly.
Elliott looked like a pre-season vezina candidate and then needed his diapers changed after the first period of game 1.
As long as Smith doesn't #### the bed horrifically he will be a huge improvement on Elliott.
Awful.
No you are not. Most people were totally on board with brining Elliott back after his play got he team into the playoffs and it's only the last three games of the season that brought out this revisionist history by many that he was terrible all season. It's crazy how fans are dismissing Elliott's 10 game streak while lauding Johnson for his 6 game streak. Winning streaks are typically a combination of solid team play from the goaltending out as well as some fortunate breaks. Elliott finished the season with a better GAA and SV% than Johnson and that's despite digging a deep hole early in the season. Also lets not forget the Flames record winning streak came to an end with Johnson in net where he was truly horrific against the Bruins. Another note that fans conveniently forget is that Johnson didn't win a game in net for the Flames after February 24 and the Flames big second half of the season was pretty well all on Elliott's back.
Now I'm not going to say I wanted Elliott back or anything but it's clear that many Flames fans gone way overboard about Elliott based on three playoff games. He was one the team's best players in the 2nd half of the season and a reason they made the playoffs in the first place. I'm hoping Smith will not have the poor start that Elliott did last year but if he has a season of play as good as Elliott in 2nd half of this season, the Flames will be in a very good place.
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