C Will Smith - Boston College, NCAA (2023, 4th, SJS)

[wickedwitch]

Smith would be doing better (maybe not well, but better) if the Sharks could insulate him with enough talent. All of the other top rookie forwards have been put with better linemates.

 

[Gecklund]

Smith would be doing better (maybe not well, but better) if the Sharks could insulate him with enough talent. All of the other top rookie forwards have been put with better linemates.

That’s kind of what Celebrini’s injury has necessitated. Lines to start the season were

Eklund-Celebrini-Toffoli
Granlund-Smith-Zetterlund

But due to the sharks bottom 6 being all grit no skill guys when a top 6 player goes out there’s not much to replace him with except gritty vets or young guys.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Seriously. These guys in here clearly are only box score watching and completely ignoring the fact he’s played with some garbage players that can’t finish his plays. He’s struggled for sure but it’s 7 games.


He’s not on the fourth line. But no go off.

Ok, lol. Nominal third line. Turned the game on and Smith had like three shifts in the second period last night. He gets a regular shift sporadically and was healthy scratched twice, including the other night.

But the point stands. Smith is clearly overmatched, especially physically.

 

[Mad Dog Tannen]

Send him down to the AHL and then to the World Juniors.

I couldn’t disagree more. Will has obviously earned his roster spot!

 

[MMC]

kid ain’t ready for prime time

 

[MichaelFarrell]

I encourage anybody interested to read the previous discussions on this thread from the summer. His slow start in the NHL was anticipated by the people that watched him in college. Personally, I did not feel he was ready for the NHL. But, being line mates with Goodrow and Dellandrea is certainly not helping.

My opinion of Smith at this point:

Smith has never been a guy that plays a super fast game. He is the type of playmaking center that will attempt to slow the game down with his stick handling and positional awareness in the offensive zone. This is a play style that is incredibly difficult to adapt quickly from the NCAA to the NHL. Smith was always going to have difficulty adapting to the size and speed of the game in the NHL, all 19 year olds do to some extent. But, his game will take time to translate.

Will Smith’s game is perfectly designed for playing with guys like Perreault and Leonard, honestly. Smiths game pretty much requires competent line mates. He is able to amplify the game of skilled players really well. I like Smith, but we probably won’t see what he can actually do for another 2 seasons.

 

[wickedwitch]

Will Smith’s game is perfectly designed for playing with guys like Perreault and Leonard, honestly. Smiths game pretty much requires competent line mates. He is able to amplify the game of skilled players really well. I like Smith, but we probably won’t see what he can actually do for another 2 seasons.

Agreed.

He's been compared to Dylan Strome. That comparison was meant in a negative way (although, for the record, Strome has been the Caps best forward for a while), but there's some lessons to be learned from it.
1) Strome took a while to adapt to the NHL
2) Arguably, Strome's biggest strength is that you can put him on a line with great players and he'll not only look good himself, but make the great players on his line look better.

I wonder what would have happened had Strome been put on a line with good players from the beginning of his career. And I wonder what would happen if you give Smith good linemates now, regardless of whether he's "earned" them.

(Nobody on the Sharks is playing well enough to have "earned" good linemates.)

 

[Gecklund]

Ok, lol. Nominal third line. Turned the game on and Smith had like three shifts in the second period last night. He gets a regular shift sporadically and was healthy scratched twice, including the other night.

But the point stands. Smith is clearly overmatched, especially physically.

“Nominal third line” aren’t all lines nominal?

We all know hes struggling but I wouldn’t say he’s overmatched. It’s 7 games. Give it time.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I couldn’t disagree more. Will has obviously earned his roster spot!

I don’t regard your opinion

 

[Maple Leaf]

I couldn’t disagree more. Will has obviously earned his roster spot!

yep this kid slaps

 

[coooldude]

Ok, lol. Nominal third line. Turned the game on and Smith had like three shifts in the second period last night. He gets a regular shift sporadically and was healthy scratched twice, including the other night.

But the point stands. Smith is clearly overmatched, especially physically.

As @Gecklund said, the lines to start the year made a lot more sense to play into Smith's strengths and help him succeed. Granlund-Smith-Zetterlund-or-whoever allows him to play with a player who can drive play and he can play off of.

He's not getting PK time and he's on PP2 so with how many penalties the Sharks are taking, it really hinders his ice time. It's not a targeting by Warsofsky.

As has been stated many times, the scratches are a Carlsson-esque development plan and Celebrini would have been following the same without his injury, so people should stop mentioning the scratches.

What you said is true - he's overmatched physically and he's overthinking everything and gripping the stick now. Just like last year, he needs to move his feet more without the puck. That said, for those of us that have watched every shift, he has had or created at least 7-10 high danger chances and if 1-4 of those go in, the panic and "dunk on him /Grier" levels would be lower. We'd still be talking about a slow start and @MichaelFarrell point that many of us said and expected would still be true - he's going to take seasons, not games, to adapt to the NHL.

It certainly doesn't look great with how Michkov (or Carlsson) is playing but my Christmas Wish is that Michkov conversations stay in Michkov threads or at least in the freaking eastern conference. I know I'm not going to get my wish because I'm a bad little boy who's on the naughty list.