Games played by Mike Smith

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Rittich has 4 starts, 2 against teams above the Flames in the standings and 2 against teams who are below the Flames. His 5th game was after Smith let in 5 in the first 2 periods, it was not a start.

4 of 5 teams suck like I said...if you are gonna compare Smith and Rittich's numbers let's be real and look at the quality of opponent.

Canucks, Habs, Avs, Oilers. Sharks...

Not exactly murderer's row...

[FBI]

Originally Posted by dino7c

4 of 5 teams suck like I said...if you are gonna compare Smith and Rittich's numbers let's be real and look at the quality of opponent.

Canucks, Habs, Avs, Oilers. Sharks...

Not exactly murderer's row...

Not murderers row but those look like damn important games to me.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by FBI

Not murderers row but those look like damn important games to me.

Every game is important...my point was you can't just compare numbers. He hasnt played any top teams and only has 4 starts.

Sample size plus quality of opponent. I like him as a backup. 1A 1B talk is ridiculous.

[TheOnlyBilko]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

70 games is too many.

Grant Fuhr played 75 games one season then went and won the Oilers the Cup!!!








*que the jokes*

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by dino7c

4 of 5 teams suck like I said...if you are gonna compare Smith and Rittich's numbers let's be real and look at the quality of opponent.

Canucks, Habs, Avs, Oilers. Sharks...

Not exactly murderer's row...

Mike Smith has a loss to the Canucks
Mike Smith has a loss to the Habs
Avs are 5th in the league in goals/game
Rittich came in relief of Mike Smith VS the Oilers
The Sharks are a dangerous team

With league parity the way it is, there is no "soft" opponent outside of Arizona. I suppose you could say that Vancouver was injury-riddled that particular night, but you're grasping for straws as Smith's lone shutouts this season have come against Arizona and an injury-riddled Ducks team. Any team can get deflection goals and screen goals through traffic in this league. Any team can create turnovers and get quality scoring opportunities with talented finishers.

[Party Elephant]

I took a look at some other goalies GP stats relative to Smith's. Smith has played 34 games, which is tied with 6 other goalies for most in the league. Those other goalies are Bobrovsky, Vasilevskiy, Howard, Hellebuyck, Andersen, and Lundqvist. Right behind those guys at 33 GP are Bishop, Allen, Elliott and Quick, and Gibson is at 32.

That means more than a third of NHL teams have a goaltender getting just as much work as Smith. That makes me worry about this issue a lot less considering most of those goalies are having great seasons. Others like Dubnyk, Crawford, and Murray would probably be up around the same numbers if not more were it not for injuries.

[Jetfire]

This is the first goalie we've had in years to hold a .920 save percentage over half of a season. He's maintaining very good numbers that Kiprusoff would also post at his best.

I would give Rittich a few extra starts due to the mere fact that he's shown he can handle them. A bit of extra rest never hurts anyone, the fresher Smith is for the playoffs the better.

[PeteMoss]

Flames have 6 more back to backs - including one this week. So Rittich will likely get 1 game this week before the 5 day break (either Florida or Tampa).

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Well the current approach would have Smith play about 70 games which seems like most people concede would be a problem. Unfortunately that's the way it's going to have to be IMO...

No. Since Rittich has joined the team they have been playing roughly a 3:1 split, which would have Smith on pace to finish the year with 65 starts. I still think that is high, but it certainly seems more manageable, and much more like a realistic expectation for how the second half will play out. I will be surprised if Smith finishes the year with 70 games.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

No. Since Rittich has joined the team they have been playing roughly a 3:1 split, which would have Smith on pace to finish the year with 65 starts. I still think that is high, but it certainly seems more manageable, and much more like a realistic expectation for how the second half will play out. I will be surprised if Smith finishes the year with 70 games.

This is more or less what I meant about it being a normal backup workload for Rittich. Right now Smith has 35 starts I think, which is tied for the lead. But a quarter of the season was with lack as the backup, plus Smith was going through a hot streak off the bat.

[tvp2003]

I posted something similar in the "Final half of the schedule" thread -- just looking at the schedule I can find 10 games that you could start Rittich without too much anxiety (shaded):



That means 31 starts for Smith, putting him at 66 for the season. Not bad.

The only difficult choice was the first back-to-back with Vegas and then Arizona; logic would be to start Smith against Vegas but I have to think he'll play in his return to Arizona. That means Rittich will have to start against Vegas; who knows, maybe he'll pull out another W.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

No. Since Rittich has joined the team they have been playing roughly a 3:1 split, which would have Smith on pace to finish the year with 65 starts. I still think that is high, but it certainly seems more manageable, and much more like a realistic expectation for how the second half will play out. I will be surprised if Smith finishes the year with 70 games.

How do you figure? Rittich has only started in back to back situations. The Flames would have to change their approach for him to get more than 5 starts test of year.

Maybe they will, but to say they have already done so is not correct.

[TheIronMaiden]

Now that the Flames are in a playoff spot, will we see a stretch where Rittich plays a few in a row?

Its been said before that Smith is on pace for a career high game played, so it would be nice to see him get a little more rest before the playoffs.

After all Mike Smith has been a huge part of the Flames success down the stretch, and it would be nice to get some good play out of him next near as well.

[EVERLAST]

It shouldn't matter who starts as they are both quality goalies.

When the team plays well in front as they have on the current streak I'd like to think goal production is more of a priority.

I don't think were used to being able to think like this for a long long time but here we are.

Having 2 other goalies pushing is awesome.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Now that the Flames are in a playoff spot, will we see a stretch where Rittich plays a few in a row?

Its been said before that Smith is on pace for a career high game played, so it would be nice to see him get a little more rest before the playoffs.

After all Mike Smith has been a huge part of the Flames success down the stretch, and it would be nice to get some good play out of him next near as well.

I will be surprised to see Rittich start any consecutive games, but I do think it is reasonable to expect that the load will be a little more evenly distributed. I would like to see the Flames keep Smith close to 65 games, which will mean a breakdown of work around a 3:1 ratio between him and Rittich.

[Oil Stain]

Well, I guess the Flames are doomed come playoff time.

Just kidding. I don't believe workload really matters for NHL goalies. I wouldn't fret about it too much.

Quick played 69 games when the Kings won in 2012. He wasn't too exhausted to put on his pads come playoff time.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Well, I guess the Flames are doomed come playoff time.

Just kidding. I don't believe workload really matters for NHL goalies. I wouldn't fret about it too much.

Quick played 69 games when the Kings won in 2012. He wasn't too exhausted to put on his pads come playoff time.

You know well that I believe there is good reason to be concerned about this. Sure, Quick managed to win by playing a billion games in 2012, but this is by far the exception and not the rule. I have already resigned myself to accept that if Smith does end up playing many over 65 regular season games, the Flames are likely not going much further than round 2 or 3 of the playoffs.

But that is okay, because I think this team has a lot of years in front of it, and I believe they will probably make their biggest push with another goalie other than Smith.

[Chr1s]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

But that is okay, because I think this team has a lot of years in front of it, and I believe they will probably make their biggest push with another goalie other than Smith.

so that means you would consider the 3rd straight Cup as their biggest push?

i can live with that

[Matata]

Quick was also 25 when he won a cup playing 69 games.