C Will Smith - San Jose Sharks , NHL(2023, 4th, SJS)

[Stewie Griffin]

They're separated by 3 points with Smith having the center responsibilities, and as said bigger and a better skater (even tho he's neither big nor a fast skater). Whether he outscores Gabe or not doesn't really matter...we know he's good offensively but want him to work on the other stuff.

Really unsure why some of the comments in this thread have been removed tho...are we not allowed to question someone's bias???

 

[William H Bonney]

Perreault isn't really exceeding expectations in some drastic way. He was a big time recruit with high end offensive talent, expected to be an immediate impact NCAA player just as he was with the NTDP.

His draft position had nothing to do with a belief he wouldn't immediately put up points in college hockey. It was about whether he could address some of his key deficiencies and how his game would translate to the NHL. There shouldn't be an expectation he would have already remedied the former and no way to test the latter until he makes jump.

He was excellent value where the Rangers got him because if his game translates, he'll easily be better than the average expected return for the 23rd draft slot. Rangers fans should be psyched. But they also shouldn't misinterpret why they got him where they did and why him having the freshman season that he has so far won't demonstrably have changed his scouting evaluations. That doesn't mean the scouts may not end up being wrong (either way). There are endless examples of it every draft.

 

[WarriorofTime]

I agree with Bonney. He put up ridic stats in Juniors and he was always expected to put up great stats in College. It's obviously a great sign that his game has translated well Juniors to College, next question is how it translates to Pros, which is where concerns lie. And of course he still went 1st round so it's not like he was viewed as a bad prospect.

 

[William H Bonney]

I agree with Bonney. He put up ridic stats in Juniors and he was always expected to put up great stats in College. It's obviously a great sign that his game has translated well Juniors to College, next question is how it translates to Pros, which is where concerns lie. And of course he still went 1st round so it's not like he was viewed as a bad prospect.

Yep. And while the college games this season are real games, he played a lot of college competition last season, too, and put up a lot of points. His continued success is great to see but not all that surprising.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Perreault isn't really exceeding expectations in some drastic way. He was a big time recruit with high end offensive talent, expected to be an immediate impact NCAA player just as he was with the NTDP.

His draft position had nothing to do with a belief he wouldn't immediately put up points in college hockey. It was about whether he could address some of his key deficiencies and how his game would translate to the NHL. There shouldn't be an expectation he would have already remedied the former and no way to test the latter until he makes jump.

He was excellent value where the Rangers got him because if his game translates, he'll easily be better than the average expected return for the 23rd draft slot. Rangers fans should be psyched. But they also shouldn't misinterpret why they got him where they did and why him having the freshman season that he has so far won't demonstrably have changed his scouting evaluations. That doesn't mean the scouts may not end up being wrong (either way). There are endless examples of it every draft.

I disagree.

He put up a lot of points last year at the NTDP as one of their best scorers. That’s great and all. It earned him a slot as a first round pick, but this year he’s taken it to a completely different level. He was one of the leading scorers at the World Juniors and is one of the leading scorers in the NCAA. That’s not expected of anyone other than the top 5-10 picks in their 18 year old year.

Is it true that he still will have to prove his game will translate to the NHL? Yes, but I don’t think anyone was expecting him to score to the degree he has this year. This is elite level scoring for a prospect of any draft range, not 23OA scoring.

 

[William H Bonney]

I disagree.

He put up a lot of points last year at the NTDP as one of their best scorers. That’s great and all. It earned him a slot as a first round pick, but this year he’s taken it to a completely different level. He was one of the leading scorers at the World Juniors and is one of the leading scorers in the NCAA. That’s not expected of anyone other than the top 5-10 picks in their 18 year old year.

Is it true that he still will have to prove his game will translate to the NHL? Yes, but I don’t think anyone was expecting him to score to the degree he has this year. This is elite level scoring for a prospect of any draft range, not 23OA scoring.

The WJC part I agree with. I didn't expect him to have the impact he did as an underager. Same with Smith.

The NCAA part I don't. I think he's exceeding expectations, but not drastically as I said, which is the way some are reacting in this thread as it drives their evaluation of the BC line. Not saying that's you, either. I am not shocked at all that he's comfortably over a PPG, even if I would have bet the under on his actual mark.

Perreault had 42 points (21g, 21a) in 22 college games as a U18, a 1.91 clip. Now some consideration needs to be extended to the fact that the NTDP games don't mean as much to NCAA teams so there is some inflation, but equal consideration needs to be given to the fact that he's also now older, as are his high end linemates who he has chemistry with, and his other teammates are better now too, so that offsets some of the inflation.

He's always been a points machine. He put up a lot of points against NCAA competition as a U18. He was stepping into a prime opportunity on BC. And the BC freshman line is loaded with a ton of chemistry. He is a top 10 talent skill wise where his deficiencies were not expected to be big issues at the college level. The signals were heavily in favor of him having a huge impact as a freshman.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

As has been covered extensively elsewhere, I don't think it's certain that Perreault is a better passer or has higher IQ. Some games he looks like it, other games Smith looks like it. They work crazy well together as a line. Rangers fans point to Perreault's point totals and vision, Sharks fans either point to Smith's vision, goals/assists ratio as better than Perreault, Perreault's turnovers, OR lament that Smith is not already Jesus Christ (we're angsty), and Caps fans love how Leonard is always visible every shift.

We'll all need to wait until they're not playing together to get the next good evaluation.

He is and does.

They track stuff like this. Gabe is throwing more pucks into dangerous areas that turn into quality chances than Smith does. Smith isn't a slouch here (and profiles more as a duel threat than GP) but this is how its been forever. Was like this with the program, has been like this all season with BC, at the World Juniors, etc. Outside of the OZ it's even more glaring as Smith has killed more rushes up ice with a poor pass in the NZ than I care to remember. Its a yellow flag that has started to turn into a darker shade of orange for me.

Smith's puck management is still a pretty big issue as he turns the puck over more than his line mates do combined. IQ plays into that. It's easy to brush this off as something that he can learn to do but there has been little to no improvement there as the year has gone on. Starting to think that it may be a feature, not a bug.

Now if you want to say that his vision is at that level, I'd agree.

 

[CaptainShark]

I am confused, isn’t this thread about Will Smith?

 

[Just Linda]

I am confused, isn’t this thread about Will Smith?

Took me like 3 comments to realize the posters weren't talking about Smith.

Not gonna lie, I was hoping Smith wouldve taken a bit more of a step this year.

 

[coooldude]

He is and does.

They track stuff like this. Gabe is throwing more pucks into dangerous areas that turn into quality chances than Smith does. Smith isn't a slouch here (and profiles more as a duel threat than GP) but this is how its been forever. Was like this with the program, has been like this all season with BC, at the World Juniors, etc. Outside of the OZ it's even more glaring as Smith has killed more rushes up ice with a poor pass in the NZ than I care to remember. Its a yellow flag that has started to turn into a darker shade of orange for me.

Smith's puck management is still a pretty big issue as he turns the puck over more than his line mates do combined. IQ plays into that. It's easy to brush this off as something that he can learn to do but there has been little to no improvement there as the year has gone on. Starting to think that it may be a feature, not a bug.

Now if you want to say that his vision is at that level, I'd agree.

Yes, yes, we know, you're a Rangers fan.

There's one dude on Twitter who posts player cards that say that Smith is a dog shit passenger on a line of future all stars. Most any reasonable person watching the games as well as looking at the advanced stats will say that it's not "he is and does" about Perreault > Smith. I stand by my point that in a Smith thread, we can say "we need to see all three of them playing with other players" rather than making this Smith thread into a Perreault CJ.

 

[Kcoyote3]

I'm excited that now since he has more points than Perreault he's definitively the better prospect.

 

[CaptainShark]

He is now LEADING THE NATION in scoring as a rookie, which is absolutely unheard of !!!

 

[Barrie22]

Took me like 3 comments to realize the posters weren't talking about Smith.

Not gonna lie, I was hoping Smith wouldve taken a bit more of a step this year.

Just wondering, how much more of a step could he take being a rookie in the NCAA and being the leading scorer?

 

[Barrie22]

He is now LEADING THE NATION in scoring as a rookie, which is absolutely unheard of !!!

I am a sharks fan and not on the side of thinking Perrault is better then Smith, but can shark fans please stop using this unheard of garbage to prop up Smith? Especially since it's not even unheard of for this season alone, with his linemate a younger (by 2 months) rookie had been leading the entire league for the past couple weeks.

 

[Kcoyote3]

I am a sharks fan and not on the side of thinking Perrault is better then Smith, but can shark fans please stop using this unheard of garbage to prop up Smith? Especially since it's not even unheard of for this season alone, with his linemate a younger (by 2 months) rookie had been leading the entire league for the past couple weeks.

Who?

 

[CaptainShark]

I am a sharks fan and not on the side of thinking Perrault is better then Smith, but can shark fans please stop using this unheard of garbage to prop up Smith? Especially since it's not even unheard of for this season alone, with his linemate a younger (by 2 months) rookie had been leading the entire league for the past couple weeks.

Unless you are playing 4D-sarcasm-chess with me, try to keep up.

I was specifically referring to this post (#371) and I really dunno where Sharks fans are doing what you are implying. It was the exact opposite for most of the season and they are slowly coming around, but no one is pumping his tires.

 

[Barrie22]

Unless you are playing 4D-sarcasm-chess with me, try to keep up.

I was specifically referring to this post (#371) and I really dunno where Sharks fans are doing what you are implying. It was the exact opposite for most of the season and they are slowly coming around, but no one is pumping his tires.

There has been a few posts recently (more so recently but there were some early on also) about how as a rookie that Smith is doing unheard of things in the NCAA.

 

[CaptainShark]

There has been a few posts recently (more so recently but there were some early on also) about how as a rookie that Smith is doing unheard of things in the NCAA.

Doesn’t sound like Sharks fans at all. Feel free to show me. The closest posts in this thread that fit your bill that I remember came from Rangers fans a couple of sites back and where concerning Perreault.

 

[Just Linda]

Just wondering, how much more of a step could he take being a rookie in the NCAA and being the leading scorer?

Second in scoring, tied for second highest pace (with Celebrini)

Regardless though, I don't base it on numbers. In a year where Bedard is putting up a 78pt NHL pace, Fantilli a 55pt pace, and Carlsson a 50pt pace, I just haven't seen Smith put up the performance to make me think 'I wish he was in the NHL right now'.

What he's doing is really good, I just think the top 3 from his draft put some space between him and them while I don't think he's separated himself from the tier behind him.

Still a top end prospect though.

 

[coooldude]

Second in scoring, tied for second highest pace (with Celebrini)

Regardless though, I don't base it on numbers. In a year where Bedard is putting up a 78pt NHL pace, Fantilli a 55pt pace, and Carlsson a 50pt pace, I just haven't seen Smith put up the performance to make me think 'I wish he was in the NHL right now'.

What he's doing is really good, I just think the top 3 from his draft put some space between him and them while I don't think he's separated himself from the tier behind him.

Still a top end prospect though.

This is pretty much in line with Sharks fans on this board. If anything, we're probably too pessimistic. But it is annoying that this thread keeps becoming about Perreault.

3 assists yesterday. He looked lost through the first 2 periods today with one secondary that was not much of his doing. However, the 4th goal to seal the win was a great individual effort on the forecheck and then a very sick snipe. He likes that low stick side.

 

[Great Makohead Shork]

Glad he's been getting some PK time too. Would have been awesome if he sealed that shorthanded breakaway.

 

[Barrie22]

Second in scoring, tied for second highest pace (with Celebrini)

Regardless though, I don't base it on numbers. In a year where Bedard is putting up a 78pt NHL pace, Fantilli a 55pt pace, and Carlsson a 50pt pace, I just haven't seen Smith put up the performance to make me think 'I wish he was in the NHL right now'.

What he's doing is really good, I just think the top 3 from his draft put some space between him and them while I don't think he's separated himself from the tier behind him.

Still a top end prospect though.

No matter how you slice the leader board, Smith is first in scoring.

And before the draft even happened, the top 3 were all going to be playing in the NHL and Smith was already going to BC in the NCAA.

And anyone that says that they watch Smith and go oh i don't wish i could see that in the NHL is just lying to themselves. The stuff he can do with the puck on his stick at the NCAA level would be fun to see done at the NHL level.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

What are these anti-Perreault comments fighting back against? I seriously haven’t seen them. Maybe like 1 I can remember that I thought someone meant as a joke calling Smith a passenger.

Rangers fans aren’t criticizing Smith in this section that much. Seems very odd to see all this pettiness coming Perreault’s way from Sharks fans. It doesn’t need to be a contest between the two players with one being good and the other bad. And it isn’t like Rangers fans in large numbers have been pitting them against eachother.

 

[Patty Ice]

What are these anti-Perreault comments fighting back against? I seriously haven’t seen them. Maybe like 1 I can remember that I thought someone meant as a joke calling Smith a passenger.

Rangers fans aren’t criticizing Smith in this section that much. Seems very odd to see all this pettiness coming Perreault’s way from Sharks fans. It doesn’t need to be a contest between the two players with one being good and the other bad. And it isn’t like Rangers fans in large numbers have been pitting them against eachother.

This is the Will Smith thread not the Gabe Perreault thread, he has his own thread to discuss him. f*** I'd rather see posts about Will Smith the rapper/actor than read about Perreault again in here. Everyone knows he is a good prospect but this thread doesn't constantly need to be hijacked about him.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

Wonder if he'll sign after the season...there's lots of arguments for and against.

The way I see it, I want him separated from his line mates, and offensively he's clearly good enough to move to another league. I think he (and the other two) could benefit in all areas of his game by playing with new players who he doesn't know as well.

On the other hand, placing him on this crap team would be setting him up to look pretty bad.