Who should Treliving target as a potential replacement for Mike Smith?

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by MisterJoji

Phillip Grubauer - Varlamov has been sensational this year and Grubauer not so much, but like Darling, he was a goalie who looked real good the past few seasons with lots of potential. Colorado didn’t have to give up a lot to get him so I don’t think the cost would be astronomical.

Robin Lehner - Good numbers so far this year, younger guy with potential. He signed a cheap one year deal with the Islanders who are likely not playoff contenders so are only probably looking for mid level picks or prospects back.


Joonas Korpisalo - On the flip side if Columbus can workout an extension for Bobrovsky, Korpisalo might be available. Huge acquisition cost though.



Darcy Kuemper - Surprisingly both Arizona goalies have good numbers but as a team they are lottery bound so I’m sure they’re looking for more picks/prospects. Raanta is signed long term and cost a bit to acquire so I don’t think they be looking to trade him.

A few comments relating to the above.

Teams need 2 goalies.

Why would the Avs trade Grubauer? He's an important part of the team and likely going no where.

Pretty much the same for each of the above.

[Flames1217]

I would trade for Bob to be honest. Give him a five year deal and hope to god that Parsons or someone else in our system is ready to take over by then. You could offer:

Smith(20% retained)
Jankowski
Kylington
A 2nd

For
Bob and Ryan Mcinnis.

[David Struch]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Horrendous trade for Calgary. Flames absolutely can not afford to give up a top 4 Dman and multiple first round picks to take on that brutal brutal contract.

I just wanted to lay out a demonstration so to speak. This proposal can be adjusted to any goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky, Tuukka Rask, etc...
(remove picks/prospects at your choosing)

Just sort of playing devil's advocate here, with so many seemingly unable to imagine the Flames being able to afford a top goalie + fitting in Matthew Tkachuk's contract next season.

If the Flames fail to meet expectations this year the number one culprit will be the lack of a solid goaltender. (I'd expect to see Smith miss some time again)

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by timbit

IMO, He was the Flames MVP for the first 50 games last season, until he was injured.
I believe he will return to that form. It’s early and patience is needed.

I just can't bring myself to be hard on goaltenders when the team is in the bottom three of the league for giving up blue chip chances.

Fix the latter and then I'll hone in on the former.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by direwolf

No kidding. It's only been 7 games FFS, and the Flames are currently off to one of their best starts that I can remember. And this is with a lot of new players, new coaching staff, new systems, and Smith not being at his best. I think people need to chill out and give them at least a few more games before we make any serious judgments about Smith or the team.

From my perspective, the team has looked pretty damn solid for the most part and they've held their own against one of the top elite teams in the league over two games vs the Preds, and looked dominant against a very good Bruins team. They also played a fantastic game against Colorado last weekend. Sure, there have been some defensive lapses, the PP has been uneven, and the goaltending has been somewhat shoddy. But I still have faith that these kinks will work themselves out sooner than later.

Smith will likely get the start again on Sunday against the Rangers. If he craps the bed, then maybe Peters gives Rittich a chance to take the ball and run with it for a few games. I thought he played very well in his previous start.

And they've played very tough teams in 5 of the 7 games, including some pretty stiff travel.

They're holding their own and the defensive numbers along with Smith's numbers are sure to normalize.

[Lanny_McDonald]

There are goaltenders for teams that play certain styles. Mike Smith is a middling goaltender in a defense first system. In a system that gives up homeplate situations, he's horrible. Unless this team, one that was built to play a certain way, changes up that system completely, Smith will never be successful. The Flames need a goaltender who can make the big save, and Smith isn't that guy. The downward facing snow angel is not a good strategy to stopping shots in close.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by Flames1217

I would trade for Bob to be honest. Give him a five year deal and hope to god that Parsons or someone else in our system is ready to take over by then. You could offer:

Smith(20% retained)
Jankowski
Kylington
A 2nd

For
Bob and Ryan Mcinnis.

Lol

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by New Era

There are goaltenders for teams that play certain styles. Mike Smith is a middling goaltender in a defense first system. In a system that gives up homeplate situations, he's horrible. Unless this team, one that was built to play a certain way, changes up that system completely, Smith will never be successful. The Flames need a goaltender who can make the big save, and Smith isn't that guy. The downward facing snow angel is not a good strategy to stopping shots in close.

Two problems there though.

1) There are only 5-10 goalies in the world that are good holding net in a tire fire, and they're not getting one of those. So they need to clean up the tire fire before they worry about the goaltender.

2) The numbers don't suggest Smith is terrible in those chances. Last year he was 13th in high danger (when you look at the top 32 most played goaltenders) he was 1st in medium danger and he was 31st in low danger (hurt greatly by his finish).

If anything he was good when things broke down but let up too many iffy ones.

This year 21st in high danger, 27th in medium danger, 16th in low danger and off to a poor start.

The Flames when Smith is net have the 8th worst expected save percentage at .904, that's terrible. They're giving up too much. The season started with Smith having a -8.8 differential to the expected save percentage (after the two Vancouver games) which meant he was even worse than the team itself. Since then that number is tightening, now sitting -1.9. So he's improving, the team really isn't in what they give up.

This is important because he was always brought in to be a 15th ranked guy. He needs to get back there. But he can't if his team is ranked 23rd or 28th in key defensive stats. All he can do his push is expected back to 0 and he's done the job he was brought in to do.

They're not getting a top 5 goaltender.

[PeteMoss]

UFAs goalies on teams who are potential trade deadline sellers:
Cam Talbot
Jimmy Howard
Robin Lehner


Keith Kinkaid whos been mentioned a few times in this thread is also a UFA so if New Jersey wants assets for him they'll potentially trade him (or trade Schneider if they want him to re-sign there)

[Scroopy Noopers]

I feel like there are two different conversations happening here.

I agree that Mike Smith is the goalie for this season (or Rittich/Gillies steal it).

But I also don’t see a reason to re-sign Smith and Treliving should be looking for replacement options for next season.

Even if Mike Smith has a Vezina year... he’s getting up there. We need a replacement.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I just can't bring myself to be hard on goaltenders when the team is in the bottom three of the league for giving up blue chip chances.

Fix the latter and then I'll hone in on the former.

Trade Brodie and that probably solves a good portion of the blue ship scoring chances against. This team will have to make a decision if his pros (looks good with Gio but who doesn't?) outweigh his cons (major defensive lapses) and with a year left on his deal he's probably attractive for teams like the Leafs.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

I feel like there are two different conversations happening here.

I agree that Mike Smith is the goalie for this season (or Rittich/Gillies steal it).

But I also don’t see a reason to re-sign Smith and Treliving should be looking for replacement options for next season.

Even if Mike Smith has a Vezina year... he’s getting up there. We need a replacement.

Ideally one of Rittich or Gillies takes a big step this year and starts splitting games more evenly after Christmas. Outside chance on Parsons. So far though Parsons and Gillies have been off to rough starts (don't know how much of that is on team play without the drill down stats), so it's up to Rittich.

Rittich as the frontrunner and a veteran backup to share the nets next year is likely the plan.

That could be Smith if he has a strong year AND will sign year to year AND will take a discount.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Trade Brodie and that probably solves a good portion of the blue ship scoring chances against. This team will have to make a decision if his pros outweigh his cons and with a year left on his deal he's probably attractive for teams like the Leafs.

Brodie isn't a problem in those counts.

the ones he's made of late are demonstrative, but his counts don't suggest he's the biggest culprit, he's 9th of 18 skaters with ice time to date in terms of high danger against per 60 minutes

However he and Giordano are 3rd and 4th in this stat for defensemen, and I'm guessing Brodie is pulling Giordano down a bit, while Giordano is pulling Brodie up, something that can't be ignored.

Interesting to note ... Rasmus Andersson is #1 on the team for NOT giving up blue chip chances

[Erick Estrada]

I don't care about the advanced stats when it comes to Brodie as he fails the eye test for me as when he makes a mistake it's usually always a goal against. Just not dependable in his own end and he's a guy that's going to bring down any defenseman you pair him with as he made Hamonic look bad last season for long stretches.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I don't care about the advanced stats when it comes to Brodie as he fails the eye test for me. Just not dependable in his own end and he's a guy that's going to bring down any defenseman you pair him with.

Well I don't care about your eye test!

Which is somewhat true, but more of a joke.

Already said in there that it's likely Giordano is propping him, but to suggest he's the team's main turnover machine or something isn't accurate when you see the numbers the top line is spitting out.

[scotty2hotty]

Call me crazy - but I’d like to see Valimaki take a few shifts with Gio.

[Two Fivenagame]

I feel like I've seen this same story the last few years:

Flames play entertaining run-n-gun hockey, but get lit up by stronger opposition. The coach then has to rein in the players and force them to stick to a boring defensive system that seems to choke the fun out of the game.

I really hope Peters can find that magical blend of winning hockey games by playing a strong defensive system that's still entertaining.

Is that too much to ask?

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by scotty2hotty

Call me crazy - but I’d like to see Valimaki take a few shifts with Gio.

They both play the left side.

Crazy!

[Mattman]

There are only 3 goalies that I think fall in the spotlight for a replacement on Mike Smith.

Varlamov - Colorado
Bobbrovsky - Columbus
Dubnyk - Minnesota

Of all the starting goaltenders that have been listed, I think these are the three teams that may have incentive or a reason to trade their starter.

But there is no way they are trading them if their team is doing good, and currently all have an above 0.500 record, so we wait...

[David Struch]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

But I also don’t see a reason to re-sign Smith and Treliving should be looking for replacement options for next season.

Even if Mike Smith has a Vezina year... he’s getting up there. We need a replacement.

Here is what Flames Cap Space would look like with Michael Stone moved for some breathing room.

2019-20:

Gaudreau - Monahan - Lindholm
Tkachuk (6.375) - Backlund - Frolík
Bennett (2.45) - Ryan - Neal
Dube - Jankowski - Czarnik
Mangiapane - Foo

Giordano - Brodie
Hanifin - Hamonic
Välimäki - Andersson
Kylington

_____
Gillies

Salary Cap $82,000,000
Cap Hit $75,500,000
Bonuses $747,500
Cap Space $6.500,000