Goaltending

[travel_dude]

1 hour ago, cross16 said:

I hope Rittich goes against the Isles. Won't be thrilled if it's Smith. 

 

Edit: and i'm not happy...

 

 

 

My concern about running with Smith is twofold.

1) Rittich is getting cold, even though he was the goto guy for most of the (winning) season

2) Important game, and we just saw one of Smith's worse games against a team we mostly dominated.

 

So, if he loses, what happens next? Smith gave away the game in ANA immediately after we came back to tie shortehanded.  Go back to him for a 5th straight game?  Then we start a road trip against OTT, NYI and NJ.  One of them is a B2B.

 

What the heck.  Start Smith and see the top seed slip away.  Then start him in the playoffs and take an early vacation.  

 

[travel_dude]

14 minutes ago, The_Snowbear said:

As i posted Before The flames are not Trading for A goalie there looking inner for goalie issues rather then trading

 

So said Eric Francis, so don't takle this wrong, but Smith is not goning to give you answers.  He will make sure we have many more questions.  He'll make some nice saves, let in a stinker and we'll lose by a goal.  Or we'll win 6-5.  Awesome.  Same quetions as before.  

[conundrumed]

1 hour ago, cross16 said:

I hope Rittich goes against the Isles. Won't be thrilled if it's Smith. 

 

Edit: and i'm not happy...

Yeah this makes me nervous.

 

Maybe we're showcasing him for a trade.lol

[MAC331]

1 hour ago, cross16 said:

I hope Rittich goes against the Isles. Won't be thrilled if it's Smith. 

 

Edit: and i'm not happy...

 

 

Not sure what you guys are worried about. Smith has been good and gaining his confidence back. Isn't this what we wanted to see from him ? We are heading towards the TDL and if management is going to do anything they are going to give Smith some rope here for their decisions.

[Carty]

35 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

Yeah this makes me nervous.

 

Maybe we're showcasing him for a trade.lol

 

*Carty's conspiracy theory*   Maybe Treliving is working on a goalie trade...   Rittich (plus) for Bobrovsky...   

 

       

 

 

[travel_dude]

39 minutes ago, MAC331 said:

Not sure what you guys are worried about. Smith has been good and gaining his confidence back. Isn't this what we wanted to see from him ? We are heading towards the TDL and if management is going to do anything they are going to give Smith some rope here for their decisions.

 

I understand if this is a Trevy thing.  Not showcasing him for a trade, but seeing how much youneed a goalie.  But what does one good showing against PITTS show, where 4 PP (one was just after it expired) goals almost cost us the game.  A Yotes game where the team dominated almost from start to finish and he gave up two meh goals.  Is tonight plus an ANA game enough to change your mind on what you saw all season long?

 

My point is that he has not been playing well.  He has a couple of wins.  He took over the game in SJ and gave up 3 goals.

13 goals in 4 and 2/3 games.

[MAC331]

3 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

 

I understand if this is a Trevy thing.  Not showcasing him for a trade, but seeing how much youneed a goalie.  But what does one good showing against PITTS show, where 4 PP (one was just after it expired) goals almost cost us the game.  A Yotes game where the team dominated almost from start to finish and he gave up two meh goals.  Is tonight plus an ANA game enough to change your mind on what you saw all season long?

 

My point is that he has not been playing well.  He has a couple of wins.  He took over the game in SJ and gave up 3 goals.

13 goals in 4 and 2/3 games.

I don't agree with your assessment of Smith so no sense in you and I discussing this.

[flames-fan-in-jets-land]

Sounds like no matter how good Smitty plays from here on some people have written him off with no chance of redemption.

[cross16]

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

Sounds like no matter how good Smitty plays from here on some people have written him off with no chance of redemption.

 

That or maybe we don't think Smith is playing that great despite the wins?

 

Because that is the camp i'm in. Yes I don't believe Smith is going to suddenly turn it around but I also happen to believe that despite a few wins he isn't playing that great so treating him like he's now their starter doesn't make sense to me either nor does it make sense to me to sit a player in Rittich who IMO has more upside than Smith. 

[travel_dude]

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

Sounds like no matter how good Smitty plays from here on some people have written him off with no chance of redemption.

 

See CROSS's response.  That's my feeling.

I don't hate the player.

I don't love the player.

Play matters regardless of wins and losses.

Rebounds to high-danger areas.

"Perfect" shots beating him.

 

Rittich's play suffered a bit in recent games, but he has still looked the better goalie in all but maybe one game.

[sak22]

This seasons starting to look like Elliott/Johnson v2.0.  I wouldn’t expect a different outcome if it continues on that path as Smith is way worse of a head case than Moose.

[conundrumed]

45 minutes ago, cross16 said:

 

That or maybe we don't think Smith is playing that great despite the wins?

 

Because that is the camp i'm in. Yes I don't believe Smith is going to suddenly turn it around but I also happen to believe that despite a few wins he isn't playing that great so treating him like he's now their starter doesn't make sense to me either nor does it make sense to me to sit a player in Rittich who IMO has more upside than Smith. 

By more upside do you mean won't retire after this year? lol

I really wanted to get both goalies going. This handing Smith the keys is annoying.

If not for Rittich we'd be with the rest of the lousy West wildcard race.

I never thought in a million yrs we would just jump right in bed with Smith again.

But it's sure looking that way.

[CalgarySTL]

I don't mind Smith starting. He has looked better.... and yes, I realize he still lets in some questionable ones but, so has Rittich of late.  If Smith is getting some confidence back, do we not want that headed down the stretch?

 

Whatever happens tonight, I do hope they get Rittich back in there next game. Maybe they see something in Ritters game that they wanted to fix?... it's not like they haven't had to tweak his game before.

[MAC331]

58 minutes ago, cross16 said:

 

That or maybe we don't think Smith is playing that great despite the wins?

 

Because that is the camp i'm in. Yes I don't believe Smith is going to suddenly turn it around but I also happen to believe that despite a few wins he isn't playing that great so treating him like he's now their starter doesn't make sense to me either nor does it make sense to me to sit a player in Rittich who IMO has more upside than Smith. 

If you are going to write a guy off and consider bringing in someone else do you not think playing him and feeling comfortable with that decision is equally important. Rittich has answered the bell, they know what they have in him now.

[conundrumed]

4 minutes ago, CalgarySTL said:

I don't mind Smith starting. He has looked better.... and yes, I realize he still lets in some questionable ones but, so has Rittich of late.  If Smith is getting some confidence back, do we not want that headed down the stretch?

 

Whatever happens tonight, I do hope they get Rittich back in there next game. Maybe they see something in Ritters game that they wanted to fix?... it's not like they haven't had to tweak his game before.

I think it is like that. If they tweaked anything, they got him to play the puck more, so they should untweak the tweak.

Rittich's mechanics are sound. Smith's mechanics need tweaking. His angles are showing he isn't tracking the puck well. He gives up a full foot of his crease that he can't be doing. He's gotta come out and challenge. I see point shots where he's only halfway up the crease. That's just bad mechanics imho. Own the whole crease Smitty, it's yours.

[MAC331]

8 minutes ago, CalgarySTL said:

I don't mind Smith starting. He has looked better.... and yes, I realize he still lets in some questionable ones but, so has Rittich of late.  If Smith is getting some confidence back, do we not want that headed down the stretch?

 

Whatever happens tonight, I do hope they get Rittich back in there next game. Maybe they see something in Ritters game that they wanted to fix?... it's not like they haven't had to tweak his game before.

I wonder if some of these posters only watch the Flames I haven't seen any Goalie that doesn't allow soft goals in practically all games. I think it has a lot to do with the pace of the game these days, blink and it could be in your net.

[conundrumed]

4 minutes ago, MAC331 said:

If you are going to write a guy off and consider bringing in someone else do you not think playing him and feeling comfortable with that decision is equally important. Rittich has answered the bell, they know what they have in him now.

That's true, we do need a sink or swim on Smith rn.

[conundrumed]

4 minutes ago, MAC331 said:

I wonder if some of these posters only watch the Flames I haven't seen any Goalie that doesn't allow soft goals in practically all games. I think it has a lot to do with the pace of the game these days, blink and it could be in your net.

with the 14th pick of the 2012 draft, the Calgary Flames select Andrei Vasilevsky. lol

[MAC331]

Just now, conundrumed said:

That's true, we do need a sink or swim on Smith rn.

I believe these games are the bi deciding factor with Smith because its not an simple decision on their part. I have to imagine Smith is a well liked room presence and great support for Rittich. You also have to take into consideration that if you bring in a Howard you are going to play him. Do you push the horse you have been riding into another stall now ? and how does this effect the team psychy. This is by no means a simple decision.

[CalgarySTL]

Just now, conundrumed said:

with the 14th pick of the 2012 draft, the Calgary Flames select Andrei Vasilevsky. lol

 

 

I hate looking back at stuff like that, lol

[flames-fan-in-jets-land]

21 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

with the 14th pick of the 2012 draft, the Calgary Flames select Andrei Vasilevsky. lol

Vasilevsky went 19th.  Flames picked 21st.

[conundrumed]

4 minutes ago, MAC331 said:

I believe these games are the bi deciding factor with Smith because its not an simple decision on their part. I have to imagine Smith is a well liked room presence and great support for Rittich. You also have to take into consideration that if you bring in a Howard you are going to play him. Do you push the horse you have been riding into another stall now ? and how does this effect the team psychy. This is by no means a simple decision.

I agree. It'll be quite a test tonight.

I've been wanting Smith to get back on form.

I'm starting to realize though, his form was always relying on athleticism vs mechanics.

For me, that's the scary part.

If we were to bring in Howard, I agree again. It would become relentlessly starting Howard, because he's a guy that isn't going to let go of the reigns.

That could be a nice lesson to Rittich too, though.

At the end of the day, Howard's better than Smith in near every category but size.

Like you say, this isn't an easy decision.

And like I said earlier, my biggest fear is Smith looking good until the deadline passes.

That would hurt a lot.

I'd imagine the NYIs are looking hard at Bobo and Howard also. If Howard gets moved, I just don't want it to be a playoff team in the west.

If I were the GM in SJ, I'd be all over it. They win in spite of Jones, not because of him.

St Loo?

No thanks. If he heads West, I would really prefer it to be to us.

Pretty sure that would put our conference on high alert that Howard is now Calgary's goalie.

[flames-fan-in-jets-land]

1 hour ago, cross16 said:

 

That or maybe we don't think Smith is playing that great despite the wins?

 

Because that is the camp i'm in. Yes I don't believe Smith is going to suddenly turn it around but I also happen to believe that despite a few wins he isn't playing that great so treating him like he's now their starter doesn't make sense to me either nor does it make sense to me to sit a player in Rittich who IMO has more upside than Smith. 

BSDs numbers havent been much better lately. Are we writing him off also? I agree Rittich should be playing just to see if he gets his mojo back but as of late the on ice product has not been that different.

[conundrumed]

1 minute ago, flames-fan-in-jets-land said:

Vasilevsky went 19th.  Flames picked 21st.

Flames had the 14, traded down with Buffalo to get a 2nd rd pick they wasted anyway.

With the 2 picks:

Jankowski

Patrick Sieloff

[CalgarySTL]

33 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

I think it is like that. If they tweaked anything, they got him to play the puck more, so they should untweak the tweak.

Rittich's mechanics are sound. Smith's mechanics need tweaking. His angles are showing he isn't tracking the puck well. He gives up a full foot of his crease that he can't be doing. He's gotta come out and challenge. I see point shots where he's only halfway up the crease. That's just bad mechanics imho. Own the whole crease Smitty, it's yours.

lol, i agree. Although, is that Ritter taking it upon himself to play it more? I'm just asking, I haven't read anything regarding that.