Goaltending

[travel_dude]

4 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

Based on rumours of Neal being hard on Smith, he's earning his 5mil.

RUMOUR has it that it didn't end on the ice.

I think it's a good sign that they hold each other to a higher standard.

The rip gets deeper with respect level.

Piss each other off, take it out on opponents.

Playing angry works.

 

Unsubstanciated rumor, but nonetheless, they are probably close to the real story.  Much like Brouwer last year, the team is working so hard to win, and they see a guy who looks lost.  The (public) response from the coach is the team is at fault.  Or the D.  If the internal message is different, then I don't have a problem with hiding the problem.

 

Unfortunately, everyone know the problem.  Everyone except Sigalet.  He spends 3 days working with Smith and the first "difficult" shot goes between his chest and arm.  Sigalet claims he is looking great in practice.  He shows up being in La La Land.

 

Bottom line for me is we have no time to wait for him to find his game, whatever that is.  Steps need to be taken.  That may be as drastic as asking/sending Smith to the AHL for a conditioning stint.  No waiver required, just needs to agree.  Call up Schneider or Gillies to back up Rittich, but give Rittich the lion's share of starts.  Two weeks max, and you should have a Smith ready to fight for his wins.  The goalie coach there worked with Rittich in the past and helped him get to a good spot, coming to NA.

[travel_dude]

6 minutes ago, The_People1 said:

https://www.tsn.ca/bruins-grant-g-rask-a-leave-of-absence-1.1206950?tsn-amp

 

Could Rask be available?

 

I mentioned that in Realistic Trades.  Smith+ for Rask.  Probably need to send a prospect.

May even get them to retain some salary unless we send Smith + Stone and retain some of Smith's salary for the year.

 

[conundrumed]

4 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

 

Unsubstanciated rumor, but nonetheless, they are probably close to the real story.  Much like Brouwer last year, the team is working so hard to win, and they see a guy who looks lost.  The (public) response from the coach is the team is at fault.  Or the D.  If the internal message is different, then I don't have a problem with hiding the problem.

 

Unfortunately, everyone know the problem.  Everyone except Sigalet.  He spends 3 days working with Smith and the first "difficult" shot goes between his chest and arm.  Sigalet claims he is looking great in practice.  He shows up being in La La Land.

 

Bottom line for me is we have no time to wait for him to find his game, whatever that is.  Steps need to be taken.  That may be as drastic as asking/sending Smith to the AHL for a conditioning stint.  No waiver required, just needs to agree.  Call up Schneider or Gillies to back up Rittich, but give Rittich the lion's share of starts.  Two weeks max, and you should have a Smith ready to fight for his wins.  The goalie coach there worked with Rittich in the past and helped him get to a good spot, coming to NA.

I would, personally.

Struggle through 30 and lose starts if we can stay status quo.

Sounds good to me. Low starts until after Christmas sounds like managing what you've got..

[redfire11]

52 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

That may be as drastic as asking/sending Smith to the AHL for a conditioning stint.  No waiver required, just needs to agree.

I thought a waiver was required to send Smith the Stockton.

In the ANA game I was disappointed about his lack of ability to make a save but what really got my goat was his 4 icings. Icing kills team momentum and allows opposing teams to dictate lines in the offensive zone. Not only does it deflate a team to let in soft goals but then shutting down offensive momentum is a double kick to the kajollies. If Smith wants to stick handle so bad we should just change his equipment and let him replace Prout.

[YounGuns]

As a previous poster had mentioned, this article is a good one: https://calgarysun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/calgary-flames/whats-wrong-with-smith-experts-weigh-in

 

One of the things I would agree with is that he's not letting the puck come to him.  He's trying too hard because he's not confident, and he's forcing the play rather than letting the puck come to him.  Every player goes through highs and lows in the season, and every player grips the stick a little too hard at times, over-thinking the game instead of just letting their natural skill and confidence take over, the problem is that when it's a skater that goes through that, you have 17 other skaters that can shelter him a bit until he gets his groove back.  When it's your goalie that is struggling, he's an island back there, and his errors are magnified because he can't just drift through the game like a skater can.  He's always relied on to be the backbone of the team on every single shift...not an awesome place to be when you're dealing with confidence issues.

 

I don't know where to go with Smith.  I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but at what point do you accept he's not the one to take us into the promised land and just cut ties with him?  Even then, what's the solution? 

 

Or, another way of looking at it is this: he's currently going through a funk, and despite that funk in our starter goalie, we're still battling not only for playoff positioning but for division crown!  Imagine what we'll be like when he gets outta his own head and starts playing like a all-star again.  Would you prefer to have Smith really take off in the 2nd half of the season, or the 1st (like last year).  I mean, ideally he'd be dialed in consistently all season, but there are few goalies that are that consistent, if any.

 

I don't know what to make of it.  Do we ride this out, knowing we finally have enough skill up front to mask his faults until he finds his game?  Believing he's still got it in him to be an elite tender when he gets into a rhythm?  Or do we say "he's done, he's old, he's not coming back, let's drop him before he kills the season"?  Hmmm.....I don't envy BT right now...

[travel_dude]

1 hour ago, conundrumed said:

I would, personally.

Struggle through 30 and lose starts if we can stay status quo.

Sounds good to me. Low starts until after Christmas sounds like managing what you've got..

 

The recent evidence was that we lost the game mostly due to untimely goals against.

Can we afford this loss right now?  Sure, because we have a winning record.

The problem is that you only can lose so many before it gets very difficult to get back.

 

I think what you are saying is that lowering the number of starts significantly for Smith.

1 for 2 or 1 for 3.

That's fine as long as he wins that game when he gets the nod.

If he doesn't, then what?

 

Just playing the devil's advocate here.  I don't know what the answer is.  At the very least, you can't go 4 to 1 on Smith starts.  Has to be 1 to 1 or thereabouts.  Get starts from Rittich while he is able to maintain his wins/SA%.

[robrob74]

2 hours ago, travel_dude said:

 

I mentioned that in Realistic Trades.  Smith+ for Rask.  Probably need to send a prospect.

May even get them to retain some salary unless we send Smith + Stone and retain some of Smith's salary for the year.

 

 

It sounds like Rask is going through something as well, if he’s going on a leave.

[conundrumed]

2 hours ago, travel_dude said:

Get starts from Rittich while he is able to maintain his wins/SA%.

Exactly what I'm saying.

It's near 2-1 Smith to Rittich now.

I'd push it as much as I could. Give Rittich every start I can. The night is young.

Blockchain the press.

Smith can struggle all he wants rn.

Everyone has told me he's, "low mileage" and, "a freak of nature" fitnesse-wise.

Great.

Let's ride Rittich when he's dialled in. It could change in a hurry.

Lastly, overpay Bernhardt to start in the org as a goalie coach.

My biggest look is, does Sigalet respect Smith too much? Peters?

It has to be reigned in, imho.

It's looked to me that Smith has near free reign since he got here. Where's the goalie coach hammering on him like they're supposed to do?

[JTech780]

 

[kehatch]

12 hours ago, JTech780 said:

 

 Yup. This is starting to go beyond something he needs to work past to something that is just the norm for him. The reality may be that he just isn't an NHL level goalie any longer. 

[MAC331]

2 hours ago, kehatch said:

 Yup. This is starting to go beyond something he needs to work past to something that is just the norm for him. The reality may be that he just isn't an NHL level goalie any longer. 

There is always something happening any player when their performance drops off. If this does go back to when he suffered the injury that had him lose a lot of time it is likely he won't ever be the same. Even now everyone is saying he is trying so hard which likely indicates he is trying to overcome a weakness effecting his play. I agree with those saying to work Rittich into more games.

[Going4TheCup]

Does the latest game prove that Rittich should be the Starter for the rest of the season?? He didn't let in any soft goals well he didn't let in any goals but you know what I mean!!  

[travel_dude]

[MAC331]

12 hours ago, Going4TheCup said:

Does the latest game prove that Rittich should be the Starter for the rest of the season?? He didn't let in any soft goals well he didn't let in any goals but you know what I mean!!  

What it means is he is showing to be reliable. Now we need Smith to get to the same place.

[DirtyDeeds]

On 11/9/2018 at 1:16 PM, travel_dude said:

 

Unsubstanciated rumor, but nonetheless, they are probably close to the real story.  Much like Brouwer last year, the team is working so hard to win, and they see a guy who looks lost.  The (public) response from the coach is the team is at fault.  Or the D.  If the internal message is different, then I don't have a problem with hiding the problem.

 

Unfortunately, everyone know the problem.  Everyone except Sigalet.  He spends 3 days working with Smith and the first "difficult" shot goes between his chest and arm.  Sigalet claims he is looking great in practice.  He shows up being in La La Land.

 

Bottom line for me is we have no time to wait for him to find his game, whatever that is.  Steps need to be taken.  That may be as drastic as asking/sending Smith to the AHL for a conditioning stint.  No waiver required, just needs to agree.  Call up Schneider or Gillies to back up Rittich, but give Rittich the lion's share of starts.  Two weeks max, and you should have a Smith ready to fight for his wins.  The goalie coach there worked with Rittich in the past and helped him get to a good spot, coming to NA.

You can not just send players to AHL for a conditioning stint to bypass waivers, even for a short time.. Even if they agree.

 

Commissioner looks into all conditioning stints because it is basically a loan of a NHL player to another league.

[MAC331]

14 minutes ago, DirtyDeeds said:

You can not just send players to AHL for a conditioning stint to bypass waivers, even for a short time.. Even if they agree.

 

Commissioner looks into all conditioning stints because it is basically a loan of a NHL player to another league.

Not to mention you just don't treat respected veteran players like this.

[travel_dude]

1 hour ago, DirtyDeeds said:

You can not just send players to AHL for a conditioning stint to bypass waivers, even for a short time.. Even if they agree.

 

Commissioner looks into all conditioning stints because it is basically a loan of a NHL player to another league.

 

By the way, the new CBA removed the term "re-entry" and just left waivers.  The rest remains the same.

 

There is more than a slight chance that Smith has a minor injury, so there could be a real case for sending him on a stint.

The rules are there to protect from hiding a player from wiavers or use it to bring the team into compliance with the 23 man roster limit.

The number of times the league balks is much lower than the number of consitioning stints.

 

But you are right, it can;t just be arnitrary.  It would need to be founded on some injury.  

[redfire11]

Much better performance by Smith against the shark's. Still again I only saw him ice the puck twice could have been more I just recall 2. Still WTF.

[MAC331]

11 minutes ago, redfire11 said:

Much better performance by Smith against the shark's. Still again I only saw him ice the puck twice could have been more I just recall 2. Still WTF.

Yeah he needs to quit doing that pass, especially with the ability of our D to move the puck. Maybe e got to use to that in ARZ when there wasn't much to work with there.

He gets an A+ for last nights performance and I hope he keeps it up.

[flames-fan-in-jets-land]

18 minutes ago, MAC331 said:

Yeah he needs to quit doing that pass, especially with the ability of our D to move the puck. Maybe e got to use to that in ARZ when there wasn't much to work with there.

He gets an A+ for last nights performance and I hope he keeps it up.

Hopefully this past game is a sign of a confidence boost and of things to come, unfortunately a win would have helped so much more I think.

[The_People1]

39 minutes ago, redfire11 said:

Much better performance by Smith against the shark's. Still again I only saw him ice the puck twice could have been more I just recall 2. Still WTF.

 

Ya much better but he still allowed a goal on a wrist shot from way outside.  Right off the bat. 

[MAC331]

27 minutes ago, flames-fan-in-jets-land said:

Hopefully this past game is a sign of a confidence boost and of things to come, unfortunately a win would have helped so much more I think.

Yeah well Jones had something to say about that at the other end and our snipers couldn't bury their chances. It was actually quite the game for both Goalies.

[robrob74]

1 hour ago, MAC331 said:

Yeah well Jones had something to say about that at the other end and our snipers couldn't bury their chances. It was actually quite the game for both Goalies.

 

The thing about last night is, I don’t think we got enough bodies to the net - only a few times. We don’t make it tough on the goalies where they have to battle through to find the puck. 

 

Also, on many of the break-ins they have one too many passes and then it’s an easy save. I think a shot in some of those situations can cause havoc. Monahan and Lindholm are snipers and can bury rebounds. I just feel like the team needs to find other ways to create offence and that could be to simplify the game more.

 

not trying to take away too much of that creativity, but there are times they end up without a quality scoring chance on what should be a high danger one. Maybe they still mark it as high danger, and that’s why I feel like we haven’t had that many some games. 

[MAC331]

10 minutes ago, robrob74 said:

 

The thing about last night is, I don’t think we got enough bodies to the net - only a few times. We don’t make it tough on the goalies where they have to battle through to find the puck. 

 

Also, on many of the break-ins they have one too many passes and then it’s an easy save. I think a shot in some of those situations can cause havoc. Monahan and Lindholm are snipers and can bury rebounds. I just feel like the team needs to find other ways to create offence and that could be to simplify the game more.

 

not trying to take away too much of that creativity, but there are times they end up without a quality scoring chance on what should be a high danger one. Maybe they still mark it as high danger, and that’s why I feel like we haven’t had that many some games. 

Can't disagree with you here. I'm not feeling the magic with this line of Tkachuk, Backlund and Neal, obviously BP wasn't last night either.

[travel_dude]

1 hour ago, robrob74 said:

 

The thing about last night is, I don’t think we got enough bodies to the net - only a few times. We don’t make it tough on the goalies where they have to battle through to find the puck. 

 

Also, on many of the break-ins they have one too many passes and then it’s an easy save. I think a shot in some of those situations can cause havoc. Monahan and Lindholm are snipers and can bury rebounds. I just feel like the team needs to find other ways to create offence and that could be to simplify the game more.

 

not trying to take away too much of that creativity, but there are times they end up without a quality scoring chance on what should be a high danger one. Maybe they still mark it as high danger, and that’s why I feel like we haven’t had that many some games. 

 

Look, we had enough chances to bury the puck but Jones was dialed in.

The Janko chance point-blank.

The Monahan chances (two IIRC) were point blank.

A penalty shot for cripes sakes (weak Bennett attempt not withstanding).

 

The difference between us and a lot of team is that we don't get shots away at weak goalies.

Smith's first goal against.  Far post, unscreened.  Seen that story a dozen times.

How many times have you seen a shot like that from the Flames go in.

Very few shots like that on the rush.  Maybe Tkachuk's from last week.

 

No, I'm not pinning th loss on Smith, just the first goal.

He made up for it later, but against a hot goalie, you only get so many chances.