Speculation: Player Discussion: Will Smith
- Thread starter Shark Finn
- Start date
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I mean it's less luck and more that the morons who let Doug Wilson have carte blanche and didn't think this team needed a rebuild are still in charge.
I feel like a broken record, but since about halfway through the preseason, I've said exactly the same thing and what I expected to happen has happened identically:
Will Smith is not NHL ready. Period. He's 19, and he's just not ready. Does that mean he sucks? NO! Does that mean he is a bust? NO! He's. Just. Not. Ready.
And game after game of getting slaughtered in every facet at the NHL level is not going to help him short or long term. Players thrown to the wolves before they are ready is NOT good for them. That's why some 80-90% of current NHLers, including the vast majority of star players, began their pro career in the AHL (or in pro leagues abroad). Very few, (not none but very few) can jump from College or Jrs straight to the NHL, and even fewer after just their freshman season. Celly could. Smith can't. Furthermore, the longer he struggles, the more four bad things happen: 1. his confidence tanks. 2. his injury risk rises. 3 the team as a whole is hurt. 4. More NHL ready prospects (cardwell being one) do not get to play.
He needs to be sent to the AHL ASAP. It needs to be couched not as a demotion or a failure, but as a simple developmental step taken by nearly everyone. Then, he needs to be given 18-20 mins a night in the Cuda, given specific skills to work on (faceoffs, energy level and intensity, getting harder on his skates and physically stronger on the puck, and pure speed to name a few), and then when he shows improvement in those areas while lighting it up and building confidence, he will come back in the latter half of the year far more ready to succeed and contribute.
Will Smith is not NHL ready. Period. He's 19, and he's just not ready. Does that mean he sucks? NO! Does that mean he is a bust? NO! He's. Just. Not. Ready.
And game after game of getting slaughtered in every facet at the NHL level is not going to help him short or long term. Players thrown to the wolves before they are ready is NOT good for them. That's why some 80-90% of current NHLers, including the vast majority of star players, began their pro career in the AHL (or in pro leagues abroad). Very few, (not none but very few) can jump from College or Jrs straight to the NHL, and even fewer after just their freshman season. Celly could. Smith can't. Furthermore, the longer he struggles, the more four bad things happen: 1. his confidence tanks. 2. his injury risk rises. 3 the team as a whole is hurt. 4. More NHL ready prospects (cardwell being one) do not get to play.
He needs to be sent to the AHL ASAP. It needs to be couched not as a demotion or a failure, but as a simple developmental step taken by nearly everyone. Then, he needs to be given 18-20 mins a night in the Cuda, given specific skills to work on (faceoffs, energy level and intensity, getting harder on his skates and physically stronger on the puck, and pure speed to name a few), and then when he shows improvement in those areas while lighting it up and building confidence, he will come back in the latter half of the year far more ready to succeed and contribute.
