(It's Griffin Reinhart)
Defense matters, what defense does goodrow play? Must be the same kind of defense as ferraro plays where defending air is good.
Most 4th liners lit it up in juniors and even some in the AHL. In fact most of them were probably their team's best player up to and until they played in the league. Dellandrea was a mid first round pick. Sturm was a scorer. Kostin, Kunin, etc. turns out, playing a responsible NHL game is hard, doing that AND scoring even 0.5-0.7 PPG is very very hard.
That was a response to the specific claim "most 4th liners need premier linemates and deployment to be effective" and you cherrypicked the one thing on the list Goodrow doesn't bring as a 'gotcha'
He is also the 7th choice for the pk. So using him as the big reason for a middle of the pack pk is overstating his usage there also.
you're unnecessarily hyper critical of Smith for no good reason. Everyone knew he would need quality linemates to be successful this year. Most people who watched him said he would need quality linemates his entire career because of how his game is structured. You want to turn him into something he has never been, everyone else just wants him to get an opportunity to learn what works and what doesnt at the NHL level. Hes not going to learn that with 4th liners flubbing what should be working, hes going to learn to not make those plays, which is what we dont want.
The only rookies to succeed under that mindset are surefire future Hall of Famers.
I mean I guess. He needs to be better but honestly he should just go down to the AHL if we're just gonna make him play woth plugs. If he turns into a 4th line grinder, we are f***ed. Sabres are similarly dicking around with Benson and he looks like garbage.
Most of the possession stats show that smith is actually one of the top forwards on this team.
I think what matters is having him play with the same guys consistently, not moving him around or constantly changing line mates for everyone. Its hard enough learning the league without also having to learn the nuances of new linemates every game
What does the unbiased eye test tell you?
That he is playing as good as he can with the garbage he is being asked to play with.
Personally, I don't think he's being asked to do anything right now. The team is actually just letting him play without being asked to do anything. Perhaps, he's being bogged down by lesser talents as a way to understand what he can and cannot get away with in terms of taking chances. Awareness of your line mates and your opponent should always factor into decision-making, so it's a lot to process at the spur of the moment. Cut down on the egregious turnovers and I think War will start giving him greater opportunity.
Smith has shown he can be an nhl player if he is not asked to be the best player on his line, as it should be from a rookie. But 90% of this season the coaching staff has put him on a line that even as a rookie he is still the best player on the line, goodrow, sturm, grundstom, kunin (before he found his game again).
My eye test isn't saying he's doing great, but that's very different from what people are saying here, which is he doesn't look like an NHLer and should be sent down.
Oh, I agree with that. Sending him down serves no purpose unless his confidence is completely shot (which only the coaching staff would know). Smith has had other opportunities, has flashed on occasion and has struggled at others. I’m assuming most of the decision making is done based on what war sees in practice versus in the games. I also agree he’s shown flashes and is learning, which is why I said in a post that I have no issues with slow-playing him this year.
The way they’re treating smith is pretty typical of how they’re treating a rookie. In fact many organizations probably would have sent him down after the first ten games or so. The reality is there is no foolproof template with how to deal with kids, but claiming the 4 game hot streak where everyone everywhere was clicking is more indicative of Smiths play this season than the other 30 or so is a tad overly-optimistic. Again, I’ve said it before, he’s a kid and the NHL adjustment has been tough. I have little doubt he’ll thrive down the road.
I am not hyper critical of Will Smith, I am honest about what he brings to the table at this point in his development, he's about where we should expect him to be at this stage which is that he is not an NHL caliber contributor but he is too good to have stayed in college
You are basically writing him off in that comment. No one knows what will happen.
I mean he's never been the worst player on his own line for an extended period of time and how a two week stretch where he was arguably our best player with Granlund. Calling him not an NHL contributor because parts of his game need a lot of work is overly critical.
