I totally understand your point and the idea of patience and lowering expectations. In all honesty, I dont expect him to light it up, but I do expect him to look like he clearly belongs. To my eyes, he doesnt. Nevertheless, I get the argument that the NHL is where he can learn those details.
However, by that logic, why not have cagnoni, thompson, cardwell, and graf in the NHL too? Throw in Bystedt and haltunnen too? After all, if just getting NHL experience is the goal, and playing in the NHL is better for development than the AHL regardless of NHL readiness or the actual result of the NHL game, then why not?
The answer is obviously that playing in the NHL, when not ready, is not preferred and not best for development, and losing at the NHL level, while sometimes inevitable, is also not acceptable.
The big Smith question is: Does he belong in the NHL right now? If you think he belongs right now and will prove it shortly (2 games not enough), then he should indeed stay. If you think he's not ready right now, then hes better served playing #1 mins with the cuda.
Sounds like most on this board think hes pretty much ready now. But, the argument that he's not ready but should stay anyways for development is one I strongly disagree with, as that argument could be used for half the cuda kids.