travel_dude
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Here's some quotes from the goalie at practice on Friday, about the video review of the last game: “Honestly, that was one game where … I usually watch every goal and that was one game where I’m just not even going to look at anything,” Smith said. “I don’t think anyone can be very proud of what happened last night. It’s an embarrassment, as far as I’m concerned, and I think everyone realizes that. But it’s over. There’s no sense on pouting about it.” “As a goalie, you’ve gotta battle,” said Smith, who has a 3-4-0 record, a 4.10 goals-against average, a .866 save percentage and has allowed 25 of Calgary’s total 36 total goals against through 10 games. “There’s a lot of things you can’t control. If you’d just looked at my numbers — which I think a lot of people do — you’d think I’d had an awful year. It hasn’t felt like that. There’s been a lot of goals scored. But you can’t control some things that happen in front of you. To blame guys would be an easy out. “But the harder thing is just to go and work hard and climb out of this thing.” “What day are we today?” rhetorically asked Smith, whose leash is getting increasingly shorter but still has a shot at redemption in the starter’s net on Saturday. “It’s pretty early still. If you get your panties in a knot and start pouting and feeling sorry for yourself, it’s going to be a long year.” “There’s a lot of teams that would give an arm and a leg to be in our position at 5-5-0,” he said. “It’s a long year and there are a lot of games left. In times like these, you can pout and feel sorry for yourself or you can learn from it. That’s the only way out. Do something about it.” It's too bad that the goalie talks this way. Suggesting that he wasn;t even going to watch his own play. In the next breath, he's saying that he doesn;t feel he's had a bad year so far. Sure, a lot of goals were scored, but the goalie can;t control that. He wasn;t pointing blame, but he wasn;t admiting much ether. Not exactly a heathly state of mind. The entire team needs to be better, but until the goalie recognizes his part in playing better, not much will change.
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Maybe I was being a little obtuse. An upgrade this season is anyone not named Smith. I'm sure dozens of names have been throiwn out there as possibles, but every one of them has risks. Mason, Pickard, Satari, Anton Forsberg, Dansk, Lehner, Darling... Bear in mind, we would need to give up value for some of these guys. We could trade Smith with half retained as part of the deal, just so they have a vet to fall back on.
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What else is he going to do? You give Rittich WAS, then you have to give him TO. At least this way, the TO game is one or the other, due to the B2B the next day. I seriously think we need to make an upgrade sooner than later. There are some risky options out there right now, but no more than what we have in Smith. At least with a new goalie, you can reset the starter workload to whomever is hot starts, no some magical number of Smith starts. At present rate, Smith would start about 57 and Rittich about 25.
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I think it's a snowball effect. You leak that many that quickly and the team starts taking too many chances all at once. One goal in a period, and the team plays harder and they tend to start shutting down the other team. Two or three becomes desperation. Would Rittich have made a difference last night? Of course he would have. A win? Maybe not. Smith generates multiple high danger chances, unless he lets in the first shot. Rittich is more apt to freeze the puck, At least, that's how I see it. So, the question becomes can this team play in front of Smith? If two goals scored n a period is all the team can manage without turning into a tire fire, then we have a problem. Smith of early last season is nowhere to be seen. Now is when we need that.
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All you have to do is look up North to see the impact of bad goaltending. Last year, the Oilers had 2 good defencemen, and one of them missed extended time, while the other was "injured". They had a decent two line punch. I think they were scored on a record number of times on the first shot. Talbot let in goals like it was a sale on goals. The Oilers were not a good team last year, but their goaltending sunk them more often than not. We are seeing the exact same thing here. Smith overhandling the puck. Smith bumping rebounds to the slot. Smith unable to make two saves on the same play. Smith giving up a "perfect" goal. We are going nowhere unless something big changes in his game. He's not athletic. He face surfs to make a save and leaves the net open. He plays far back in the net and gets beat high. His 5 hole is bigger than the Grand Canyon. He's the starter, according to BP. I wouldn't say anything else in public. Can;t evaluate the goalie in a game like that. True, because he didn't make enough saves to see if he has any style. There are too many games where you know when you are sunk. Goal #1 set us back, but #3 signaled to the team we were never getting close. Excuse me if I'm focused on one player. Just here. This position is the one that kills us. Defense, we can sit the useless player or try some options to get better results. Forwards, we have so many options. SOme have worked for a game or two. Some are building and will be good. Nets, we are in shambles. We g=have a capable backup that should not play more than 30 games and a starter that is in a contract year looking like he should retire to Florida. Here's my dilemma. You probably should start Rittich against TO. But we need him for BUF. And Smith shouldn;t start against WASH. The fans will not tolerate a poor game at home. Not after that debacle.
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Tonight marks a low point in the season. Hopefully the lowest. What bothers me the most is no matter how we play, Smith is letting in WAY TOO MANY GOALS. Rittich lets in two goals in 2 minutes against the AVS. A very good team that doesn't get many props. He shuts the door and we steal 2 points. His next start, he's shelled. Every shot is dealt with the way you expect a starter to, but he made the shooters look dumb. His next start is well deserved and we lose momentum after a bad peanlty. He still only lets in 3. Aside from getting the tying goal, the team responded in the 3rd. His rebound control is very good and he has the reflexes to make two saves in a row. No, I am not suggesting he is the new starter here. I don;t think he can handle the workload. Smith's hot start from last season is nowhere to be found. I don't know how you can continue this cruel experiment of trotting out a 37 old goalie that doesn't look like he's tracking the puck most nights. He lets in 3, the game is over. That's not because we aren't scoring. It's because that's not the last one. To answer Kehatch's question, I think you have no choice to look out there. If Rittich can keep us in games, there may be a goalie that can come in here and do the same as a starter. It's not too early to pull the plug. It's also not nearly too late to run with a new starter. All we need is a mini streak to give the team back some confidence. Confidence that when you score a goal, you aren't digging the puck out of your net 2 minutes later.
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I think JH is working on his D-zone game. HE makes smart plays, but he's just too small to contain anyone. He often lets players get position on him, but is looking big picture. HE's nit going to be able to get the puck out from the boards if he's being hammered there.
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Stockton Heat Updates [2016-2017]
travel_dude replied to travel_dude's topic in Calgary Wranglers and Flames Prospects
Here's a perspective from a season ticket holder that covers their games. The last two were at least more promising. https://flamesnation.ca/2018/10/22/stockton-heat-split-weekend-games-against-san-jose-barracuda/ -
On the road, they need that for sure. But Lindholm struggles with them half the time. When we can give better zone starts to the top line, then Neal adds a heavy presence to the line. I liked Bennett and Neal together, but Ryan wasn't great all the time and Janko didn't seem to fit either. Can be an in-game thing or home only, if you like. The biggest thing is to have dfferent looks.
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I'm almost of the belief that Bennett-Lindholm-Neal might be a good line to try. Lindy is a passer, but can shoot. He's smart in positioning. This combo gives us two strong side faceoff takers. Have to see how that would work out. Other than than I think Neal may also be a good fit for the top line.
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There are a couple of times I don;t mind Smith clearing the puck. One is during a 3v3 OT or a 4v4 regular game. Only because there is more open ice. But, I'm only okay with the 1st scenario if the forward is wide open. A risky play in OT is basically a turnover turned offense in the making. You don't give up possession in OT unless you have nothing else left. I would drop it back to the goalie and change the players. AT worst, he can freeze it for a whistle. The Nashville game was a lot of outside shots. I can;t really remember it now, but I felt it was a good game with a lot of time for Nashville. Chances were pretty lopsided for the Preds in the 2nd and 3rd. We did kill a 2 minute 5v3. Smith was dialed in. Some of his saves were just lucky but others were great reactions saves.
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What a coach says out loud can be the public face only. But, I would add that what Smith does about 50%+ of the time is good. Stop the shots around the back of the net. Great. Freeze the puck until the D-men get back. Awesome. Clear along the glass? Yikes. Up the middle? Double Yikes. Stickhandle in traffic behind the net? Face palm. What is the use of a goalie giving the puck away as soon as he gets it? We complain about the D-men making 100 foot passes, or firing it along the boards when there is zero pressure. How is this any different? The coach didn't call out Smith for some of the D-zone play, but he was implying there were issues. A lot of them were created by over-handling the puck.
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I like that he's playing with intensity, even when he isn;t scoring. Massive hits. Good defensive play. The chances are coming for him. About a milisecond awy from banging in a goal. Other player called offside when he had an open lane to the net.
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Decision to start Smith tonight was the right one. Infuriating at times, but made solid saves when they came at him. Any thought about the next game? Previously a high shot shutout. Think the Flames want to mess up their scouting on his weaknesses? Or go with the starter?
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All the more reason to see what Rittich is early on. I would like him to have played 20 games by TDL. If we have nothing good by then, a change is necessary.
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No depate there. We took a two year risk on Smith without the full cap hit. It's been good and bad. About what you should expect for that type of solution. There are some potential starters out there that may be available. May have to pay quite a lot for that too. Bob is going to cost too much. Schneider hasn't looked good recently. Is a rebound even possible. Darling is no longer a darling. Maybe he isn't anything special. Varly has shown to be a good goalie over the years, is a pending UFA, and could be replaced by Grubauer by the end of the year. $5.9m currently. Would likely command $6m+ for a short term deal. Will Dubnyk be available? $4.33m for 2 more years. Just some thought. Don't know if there are any backups currently out there that we could swoop in on. Washington may decide to move on from Samsonov. I doubt it. Slow start, but he 's just adjusting.
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I agree with what you are saying. But... We are still in the cycle. Smith likely won't be here next year unless he turns into 2011/12 Smith. Whoever is the replacement needs to be a clear cut upgrade. Banking on our goalie prospects being ready to be starters next year is ambitious.
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That's the big question isn't it. Smith would have to be part of any trade to upgrade the net. Finding a competant backup isn't that difficult, if that's all we need. In fact, Rittich may prove to be just that. Not a starter, a backup. There was some rumors about Mason talking to teams, and he rejected them because he wants to be a starter. He may not find that job. Not my first choice, and it really doesn't solve the problem of Smith. We won't hear about it until it happens, but BT will be looking across the league for possible solutions. He may decide to sit on his hands if he feels Smith has rebounded back to normal. But I expect that he's talking to GM's about what they have and the cost. Some teams can't afford a losing streak with their current number 1's. They may decide to trade them. With Smith being an expiring asset, BT has to make that decison before the TDL.
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I don't diagree with what you said. What I have noticed is that there seems to be some indecision about the starter. Rittich needed to start at some point before too long. It seemed like they weren't sure about Smith starting on the road. I think they may the right call, with maybe the exception of the game after a shutout. History had shown that to be a mistake, but I don't think you can deny the shutout as being a factor in the next starter. Peters alluded to Rittich's first NHL win last year being against Colorado, so he must have talked about history playing into the decision.
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Out of curiosity, which of the next 5 starts do you think should be Smith and Rittich? I know a lot here were in favor of starting Rittich sooner than he played. I use 5, since that's the way the coach is defining a set (7 under Gully): 10/17 - BOS (Smith) 10/19 - NASH 10/21 @NYR 10/23 - @MTL 10/25 - PITTS Smith last started on 10/11, and Rittich on 10/13.
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2-2 isn't hot either. Loss (4GA)-Win(4GA)-Win(0GA)-Loss(5GA) The only guy that knows Smith's history is Sigalet. And if he truly knows that, he knows that Smith has a terrible record after a shutout. We need to get Smith going, but not at the expense of wins. I don't know if there is any set formula that works. Made some sense to play Smith after he had the shutout. At that point he had played 3 games. Big picture, you play 3/4 and the backup only plays 20 games. Not a good distribution for an older goalie. Smith playing 2/3 takes you closer to 30 for the backup.
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It's a general reference. Who's hot? The guy winning. One win, one loss isn't hot. If you give Smith a 2nd game after a shutout, why wouldn't you give one to a strong performance in a win. I get the starter conversation, and while I agree that Smith should play 50+ games, you don't just default to him for the next game.
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Well, here's what I know. Smith played really well against Nashville. He had a so-so outing against BOS in pre-season, going 17/19 in saves. Do you run Smith in both games? After those two you have NYR, MTL on the road and PITTS and WASH at home. Nobody is suggesting you run Smith and Rittich every other game. Playing Smith just because he's the starter doesn't help anyone. May get him going or may just be more of the same we've seen this season. Other teams don't seem to have an issue playing the hotter goalie.
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I get what you are saying. Why I lean towards starting Rittich is that we had suspect goaltending to end the season. If we may need to make a change, it's a good idea to know that sooner than later.
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Bennett can be like Ferland. Looks good for stretches and then not so much. Incredibly small sample size this season. Let him continue his strong play and see if he keeps it up. So far, he seems to be much more rounded a player.
