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.

 

[timorous me]

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.

It's so early that I don't think there's any real concern--especially since he hasn't really meshed with his linemates yet and him being overwhelmed by the defensive responsibilities was sort of always kind of inevitable for him.

I'm sure that at some point over the next month or two he'll either start overthinking things less, or he'll get moved to the wing and get to focus more on offense. And ideally Celebrini returns in the next week or so and Smith can go back to developing some chemistry with Granlund.

 

[Star Platinum]

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.

You know someone who did think he should start at 2C and wouldn't start at wing? Me. And I still think they should stick with that, results notwithstanding.

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?

So long as he doesn't lose confidence in the process, I don't really care how often his line wins or loses matchups. He needs ice time and to be pushed beyond his comfort zone. I would pair him with Granlund and Toffoli, especially now with the injuries, but if they want to stick with pairing him with Zetterlund and Granlund when Celebrini and Eklund return, I don't think that's the end of the world. But he will get nothing from being paired with Goodrow and Kunin if that's what ends up happening in the games.

Now, if he starts to lose confidence because he can't create the time and space to play the game he played in college, then perhaps a stint in the AHL where both of those things are easier to come by may be warranted. I think he will probably need to learn to play faster in the pros than he did in college where he seemed to be able to take as much time as he wanted to survey the ice and then pass to one of his talented linemates.

I'd also like to see him take more shots on goal.

 

[Star Platinum]

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.

I think with Celebrini out they could probably afford to be giving him some level of PP1 time. They could use a little more creative passing on the power play with Celebrini out. With Celebrini healthy they probably don't need to have two youngsters on the power play at the same time.

Zetterlund and Toffoli seem a little duplicative on the power play to me from what I've seen.