Oct 12 Practice Notes: Backlund questionable. Rittich starts. 3rd D pairing may split

[Strange Brew]

I really believe most everyone would agree Smith is an average starting goalie. The whole question is whether given his age and injuries he still is, right now. That remains to be seen IMO.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I really believe most everyone would agree Smith is an average starting goalie. The whole question is whether given his age and injuries he still is, right now. That remains to be seen IMO.

The issue is that Smith in his prime was an average starting goaltender which would be totally fine for the Flames as they don't need to win most games 2-1. He's no longer in his prime and I'm not so sure he's up to the task of being a full time starter anymore. He seems good on close in chances where he can cover the ice with his pads but he's getting beat a lot on shots. He plays deep in his net and relies on his reflexes and he's not as quick as he used to be and it's starting to show. I think he's at the stage where he's more of a 1B goaltender and the problem is the Flames don't have a 1A unless Rittich has it in him to take things up a notch.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I really believe most everyone would agree Smith is an average starting goalie. The whole question is whether given his age and injuries he still is, right now. That remains to be seen IMO.

Absolutely, the wheels do fall off at some point.

Three things to keep an eye on though if you believe goalie stats, which to be honest I don't know if you can or can't.

1) Shots against - Flames continue to be in the top ten, sitting 7th now with 29.5 shots per game. That's good to be top ten, but two games against Vancouver skews that.
2) Team expected save percentage - was and is .900. That's not very good. After two games Calgary's .900 had them with Pittsburgh and Edmonton for the worst. Since then although they haven't moved they now rank 11th worst as teams have rushed by them.
3) Smith himself - up to 88% now from 82% which was a mess. Can't escape the fact that his move is based on one good outing. What's interesting is he's pulled his high danger save percentage up to the median starter last year, and he's flawless on the easy ones. It's the medium danger shots where he's back of the median 86.8% vs 92%.

To me that says he pulls out of it.