Speculation: Player Discussion: Will Smith

[Gecklund]

I pretty much 100% agree with you with the only caveat being that he has, at times, gotten caved. But even so, he's at expectation and shouldn't be sent down. They're giving him a lot of chances and attempting to support him to be successful. The only thing they're not doing is putting him on PP1, which frankly I understand.

Yeah I mean I guess not gotten caved is relative to the rest of the team. The entire team has gotten caved repeatedly. I just don’t think his line is getting stuck in the zone any more than other lines.

Again 100% my own personal eye test.

 

[Zarzh]

In my opinion, Smith is, in fact, being sheltered and absolutely being put into a position to succeed. First of all, almost no one on this board thought he'd be our 2C to start the year and many of us thought he'd start on wing -- he did not. The Coach gave him full trust to center a 2nd line with our leading goal scorer from last year and Granlund. That changed the last two games because of Celebrini, but nonetheless, until this upcoming game, he's been playing with theoretical Top 6 guys (or what are Top 6 guys on the Sharks).

Yes, he's on the 2nd powerplay, but.. he's a 19 year old who was given the chance to center a 2nd line and play on the 2nd powerplay. He hasn't really been able to live up to those responsibilities yet and that's okay.. He'll now get the chance to play with two hard-working guys who can hopefully get him the puck and give him more touches (while also helping him win faceoffs).

What exactly would you do differently? Play him 20 minutes a night? Would it help to have him take on top lines in the NHL and get destroyed?

Smith is a kid and he's struggling. Again, I think that's okay, he'll figure it out, but this idea that he's not being put into a position to succeed seems a little silly to me. He has not really earned being a 2C either by his play in preseason or his play in the first 3 games -- so now Warsofsky is trying to give him less responsibility to figure it all out. If anything, it feels like they're doing what they can to nurture the kid. I mean, he was first in the shootout -- they're obviously doing everything they can to get him going.

Play him in an intelligent way to build good habits. You can argue about what happens when Celebrini comes back but he was put in a position where success is almost impossible outside of game 1 and that's concerning. I don't think Warso could have done worse because the only way that line was creating offense was if Smith beat the team by himself, and he was benched whenever he tried something which didn't work.

 

[timorous me]

Smith has had 1.6 minutes of PP time and Michkov has had 16 minutes of PP time. Both have 0 ES points. Michkov is a -3 and we all know the one play that gave Smith his -1. Michkov has only played 3 more ES minutes across 3 games. Yes Michkov has better possession numbers but it’s not like he is outplaying Smith because of his ES play.

If Smith had 16 minutes of PP time I have no doubt he would have at least 2 points and the narrative would be completely different.

And this doesn't even mention that Smith is learning to play center--the team clearly believes he has a future in that position--and right now it seems his primary objective is to learn the role from a defensive perspective. So when it looks like we can see the gears turning in his head and he's not playing his natural game out there, well, it makes complete sense.

Meanwhile, Michkov is being used as a scoring winger where playing a complete game isn't the objective right now (granted it's for Torts, so I don't mean he's being asked to abdicate all defensive responsibility; it's just that the responsibilities he's tasked with are totally different than Smith's)--so I'm much less concerned with Smith's offensive numbers right now than I would be if he were in a different position.

 

[gaucholoco3]

And this doesn't even mention that Smith is learning to play center--the team clearly believes he has a future in that position--and right now it seems his primary objective is to learn the role from a defensive perspective. So when it looks like we can see the gears turning in his head and he's not playing his natural game out there, well, it makes complete sense.

Meanwhile, Michkov is being used as a scoring winger where playing a complete game isn't the objective right now (granted it's for Torts, so I don't mean he's being asked to abdicate all defensive responsibility; it's just that the responsibilities he's tasked with are totally different than Smith's)--so I'm much less concerned with Smith's offensive numbers right now than I would be if he were in a different position.

I think prioritizing learning the Defensive side of the puck is doing a disservice to Smith. He needs to be able to get the puck but his offense is what will pay his salary and that is what needs to be developed first. If he can’t create offense then it doesn’t matter if he can become defensive.

More than anything he needs to get puck touches to build confidence. The best way to do that is give him PP time.