But to be fair, we are still paying for that decision both figuratively and literally. People were starting to come out hard on the "trade Butcher" train a year or two before it happened, so it might be a bit of "fool me once" type of thinking.
The other thing is he’s on a two year deal. Even if he came here and raked it wouldn’t have done much for us, he wasn’t making a 35-point difference in the standings. So then you either have him for one more year of possible consequence or double down on the risk and resign him.
bahl and okh are different defenseman than smith though - in theory, smith would be a PP guy and more offensively minded, i thought?
I don't get this though, was the assumption going into the season that we would be looking at a bottom 5 team again?
It would not be foolish at all. So you would rather give him another season when he is clearly not a fit & then his trade value falls off a cliff to the point where we get nothing of value for him? That would be the more foolish move. There is absolutely no reason to be forcing Smith into a lineup just because of his draft status. Especially when we got not 1 but 2 defensemen who look better then him. Why should Bahl be the 7th defenseman when he has be night & day better then Ty? Smith should not be getting preferential treatment. He does not deserve it at all. If Bahl was drafted in the 1st round & Smith drafted later on we wouldn't even be having this discussion. When we are trying to be a playoff team no one should be handed spots just because they were drafted high. Your either good or you aint.
Thats the point. Smith has no spot on our powerplay. Between Hamilton, Severson, and Luke Hughes coming up really soon Smith doesn't have a chance to sniff our powerplay. Therefore Smith is completely redundant. Smith also doesn't bring anywhere near the amount of offence for the amount of goals he lets up. In order to a good offensive dman you need to score more points then you give up. Bahl is much better in Smiths spot and Smith should be traded before his trade value jumps off a cliff. One more bad season & thats a wrap for Smith.
You’re just assuming he’s bad again next year. He stunk this year, but it’s amazing that he went from a potential core player to literally useless and must dumped after a single season.
Its not even about if he's bad or not next year. When we have an abundance of LD prospects (all of which are knocking on the door, and bring other elements that this team desperately needs) I just don't see a need for Smith. If he loses his spot in preseason to Bahl or Okhotuik then Smith loses all his trade value & we won't get anything for him. It would just be the smarter move to deal him now while he has some value. Next year is make it or break it for Smith because Hughes comes up the year after. There is also 0 chance of Smith getting his PP time when he's stuck behind Hamilton, Severson, Luke Hughes. Smith brings nothing to the table that we aren't already getting from our other dmen.
Yes that’s a big part of why it may make sense to move smith. We don’t need him to run a powerplay and he doesn’t really fit the type of defensmen we need or Fitz likes.
I just don’t buy this line of thinking. Again, this year he just absolutely sucked and didn’t do anything well, but I want dmen that can move the puck on every pairing. Especially considering that #3 right handed dman that will be on the team next year will more than likely be a stay at home guy or just a plug.
So what do we do with Bahl & Okhotuik if we are gonna force Smith into that top 6 role? Do we just not play them even though both are clearly better? Or do we let them beat Smith for that top 6 spot & watch as Smiths value tanks harder then Netflix's stock?
It’s as much if not more about his fit on this team than him having a bad year. There really doesn’t look like there’s a role for him in this team right now or in the future. His defensive game isn’t good enough and it wasn’t last year in his exciting rookie season. He’s an offensive powerplay guy. But we have other guys who can run the powerplay and Luke Hughes on the way. He was better than Bahl in juniors because of his offensive skill and puck moving. Bahl was better defensively but didn’t have as much potential. Bahl has looked better than Smith and he’s more of a fit. I also really like what Okhotiuk brings and he started strong. They both just make more sense as potential second and third pair D alongside the guys we already have.
I get what you are saying about Smith having been better than Bahl at every level prior to the NHL but I think now it might be at least possible that what made Smith better is not true anymore at the NHL level.
Okhotiuk and Bahl are capable puck movers though. Smith at his best is obviously better at that but he’s not as good defensively. We don’t want or need a defensively poor puck moving defensmen on our 3rd pairing. The only time that ever makes sense to me is if that guy is running a powerplay.
He can’t really get Zacha’d because we’re not gonna have any room at LD. He’s either gonna have to perform or be in the AHL pretty soon.
Agreed. I think this will also apply to other young players we have . Eventually hard choices will have to be made. Only so many roster spots amd spots that require a specific skill set . With Holtz Foote Thompson Gritsyuk Stillman plus others , eventually we will have to decide if they are core or important pieces we can use or if we need to move them for different assets. Timing amd deciding who is the best fit for different roles is the tricky part.
