Coyotes can't move forward with Mike Smith

[Johnnydrama21]

http://twopadstack.net/arizona-coyotes-cant-move-forward-mike-smith/

Mike Smith wasn't exactly the safest bet when he signed his 6-year, $34 million deal but now it's looking like a train wreck of a deal. How can the Coyotes really move forward with their rebuild with that albatross hanging around their neck?

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[The Nuge]

It's not the end of the world. His contract will be close to up by the end of the rebuild

 

[Russian Factor]

Yeah no joke. He is awful. Should probably be looking for his replacement asap so a goalie can be developing during the rebuild to be ready when the team is in contention and the contract is finally over

 

[mouser]

One bad contract on the team, and one mediocre contract. Shouldn't be a major obstacle to rebuilding.

 

[ClassLessCoyote]

If having Mike Smith in net helps the Coyotes secure a Top 5 pick for the next few seasons, then I'm for it.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Still don't understand what the hell they were thinking when they signed that.

Smith had one good year up to that point, they have what is probably the best goalie coach in the league and had a penchant for making other former back ups look like a million bucks. (Who also signed a monster contract and busted, weirdly enough.)

What made Maloney go "Let's dump 34 million into this guy!' when they could have just as easily grabbed a mid range goalie and be in the same spot, if not better?

 

[IPreferPi]

If someone is willing to take Smith with few strings attached, I'd be for it. But one bad contract won't kill the Yotes. Besides, we still need to hit the cap floor.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Eventually GMs are going to learn when it comes to big contracts for goalies.

 

[Burke the Legend]

Eventually GMs are going to learn when it comes to big contracts for goalies.

UNPROVEN goalies maybe. I don't mind signing a guy who has consistent years under his belt, but signing a mid-range guy after a career year is dumb. IMO the Rask signing was kind of a gamble too since he never played a full 60+ game season as a #1 starter but so far he's held up to the billing.

 

[Dolemite]

This is the story of Maloney's GM tenure with the Coyotes in a nutshell. He takes chances on players that most teams might take a pass on in the hopes of scoring big returns.

If Sean Burke (admit it, he's the best goaltending coach in the league) can help Dubnyk but not Smith that's a huge indictment on how bad Smith is....and how terminally putrid the Oilers are at developing players.

 

[Tekneek]

Who did not know Mike Smith was a problem? Everyone except Don Maloney struggled to figure out why they traded Dubnyk.

 

[XX]

You know, for a website named after a save, I expect better than this:

At 32-years-old, the odds aren’t in Smith’s favor. He’s likely played his best hockey and is on the downside of this athletic prime. At his age, things typically only get worse from here and they’re already bad enough that he’d be long gone if it weren’t for his contract.

Not true for (healthy) goalies.

A bad team is exposing an average goalie, nothing more.

 

[King King]

Not a great contract, but the hit is less than $6m and they're a team with tons of cap space. Not really an albatross.