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 Adam
Messages: 6858
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB
6 Cups
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| WhoreableGuy wrote on Tue, 10 December 2019 11:40 |
| RDOilerfan wrote on Tue, 10 December 2019 10:50 |
| Pseudoreality wrote on Tue, 10 December 2019 10:13 |
| RDOilerfan wrote on Tue, 10 December 2019 09:04 |
The good news is I think they are playing the good goalie so maybe they have a chance. Someone tell McDavid and Leon they play today so they need to show up.
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That's good to hear. Everyone seems to love Smith so much, but he is not best goalie on this team and should be getting less starts.
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I have no problem with Smith. He did his job. He came in, pushed Koskinen to be better, gave the Oilers quality starts and took away games to lessen the work load. But he is 37 yrs old, he is a back up at this point in his career. I would even say he's a good back up. But he's a back up so they need to play him like a back up.
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Smith had a similar start last season with the Flames, lost the job to Rittich.
He eventually got the job back and became the starter and their MVP all the way to the playoffs, I think Rittich had only 5 losses all season last year but Smith never gave the reigns back.
I'd ride Koskinen more obviously but Smith has shown he can finish strong.
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It is amazing how much people are willing to forgive with regards to Mike Smith. He was a bad signing, and other than a few games at the start, he's shown that.
Given the stats last year, it was probably foolish of the Flames to play Smith (.898 sv%) over Rittich (.911) in the playoffs. It didn't matter in the end - Smith actually played really well against Colorado in that short sample size but the team couldn't score.
This year, despite a hot start, he's down to .903 for save percentage - which is really bad considering he was .919 in October. His stats in the 9 games he's played since have been atrocious. He's currently 35th out of 50 for goalies playing over 10 games this year, but if he continues to play at the level he's been at the last 5 weeks, he'll finish near the very bottom of that list.
I hope that he rebounds and plays a little better, but at this point - at his age, and given where he's been at the last couple of years, I think we're fooling ourselves if we think he's going to be a lot better.
The bad news is that we need him - I don't think we can over-play Koskinen and expect him to be successful. Smith has a no-move clause so it is unlikely we'd even be able to shove him aside unfortunately.
"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireLowe #FireBobbyNicks #FireKenHolland #FireKeithGretzky
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