Eric Francis leaves Postmedia

[Toonage]

^ Agreed. He also needs to know when to play it and when to leave it for a defender. I get the impression that he gets frustrated when the puck doesn't clear the zone in a timely fashion so he takes it upon himself and thats often where he runs into trouble.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

If Rittich can be as good, that's great. Right now he's a bit betwixt and between. He's good at controlling it, and he's confidently firing it up ice like Smith. But he's overconfident in his accuracy and strength.

I think Smith's up ice passing is first rate. But even better is his ability to stop a hard dump in even when it's circling the end boards up high.

Indeed. If only he could stop pucks on net so well.

[Northendzone]

i recall watching this segment last night, and i thought that francis merely pointed out how the flames were the team with the lowest number of hits.
I felt like he then noted how he felt hitting was not as big as part of the game.

i believe he then deffer ed to sutter, who not surprisingly believed that come april 15 it is a big part, and that as of now, no team had been successful without that component of the game.

Originally Posted by LWcrowfoot

To bad he joined Sportsnet on a full-time basis. His analysis tonight was incredible.

Taken from r/CalgaryFlames

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Flames love his (Smith's) play with the puck and want Rittich learning from him so he can play it more too.

Wish I could find where I read that, but I'm 100% sure its out there.

So people who hate when Rittich handles the puck, I have bad news for you.

I remember Peters saying something along these lines. In a post game interview. I will get to it.

My opinion of Smith’s puck handling has changed. Coming to Calgary, I knew he handled the puck a lot and figured he was / must be good at it.

Then I started over time watching more closely, and saw a couple of things. Firstly, him standing behind the net, Gio retreating to one corner and Hamilton to the other, and the other team getting positioned to defend the rush. These were the dog days of ol’ Gul, and I wondered what the benefit was of having your goalie start the rush, and take enough time doing it that the other team was set.

Then I saw times where the play was in transition, he had just gotten the puck and had a couple of guys skating back, doing the normal breakout route, however Smith spied a winger up at the far blue line and passed to him. Pass barely has completed when three guys converge on the winger and the team gives up possession.

Maybe I’m talking about not so much raw stickhandling skill, rather the value added to the team. I started watching for his often the Flames had ceded possession within a few seconds after Smith played the puck, and my opinion started to shift pretty firmly to the side that there was little benefit. Perhaps he was reading his own press and thought of his playing the puck as more valuable than it actually was.

Then in a post game interview, where Smith had screwed up and it cost a goal, Peters basically said that he knew there were going to be the odd turnover, but he didn’t have any issues with the strategy of the goalie handling the puck because it changes how the other team forechecks, disrupts their game plan.

That made sense and informed my current opinion.

We know Smith likes to handle the puck and does it frequently. Do I listen to commentators and take their opinion the he is the best? Tough because really it is nothing that can be measured in any direct way.

If you focus, as I did, on the subsequent team play resulting from goalie puck play, it’s not so encouraging. If you however buy the value of disrupting the forecheck and forcing the opponent to change their strategy, then that makes a lot of sense.

Long story short, the coach is fine absorbing the risk, considering the net benefits.

And as for Rittich, the Av picking that puck out of mid air is mildly risky, but that was a turnover at the blue line. He wasn’t in dangerous position then. Flames got possession, Monahan screwed up, Hanifin lost his stick. Yeah, none of it happens without the turnover, but to me it was the plays after the turnover that were avoidable and ultimately costly.